Haiti’s earthquake: Horror in Haiti
Perhaps thousands are killed as Haiti is struck by a powerful earthquake THE capital of Haiti, Port-au-Prince, suffered a devastating earthquake measuring 7.0 magnitude on Tuesday January 12th. Much of the city was flattened and at least hundreds-and probably thousands-of people have been killed. The country is desperately poor and densely populated. Most of the 2m residents of the capital city are squeezed into tin-roof shacks that are perched on steep ravines, which are extremely vulnerable to collapse. Little reliable information was immediately available, in part because phone systems were knocked out. The UN reported that many of its staff in the country were missing and that much of the mission’s building, five storeys high, was destroyed. The initial tremor struck for some 35-40 seconds shortly before five in the afternoon, with an epicentre 10 miles (16km) south-west of the capital and a mere 6 miles underground, leading to particularly severe shaking at the surface. The tremor was the strongest in the Hispaniola region since 1946 and was felt as far away as eastern Cuba. A series of powerful aftershocks followed the first tremor. …
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Haiti’s earthquake: Horror in Haiti