Temblors force many Haitians to sleep outside
PORT-DE-PAIX, Haiti — For some Haitians fearing new aftershocks, the best place to spend the night is under a tree.
The one-two punch of a magnitude 5.9 earthquake in northern Haiti on Saturday that destroyed houses and killed at least 12 people followed by a strong 5.2 magnitude aftershock on Sunday has residents worried about returning to their cracked cinderblock homes for fear they will collapse.
"I don't feel safe even inside my house," said Gary Joseph as he put various mattresses for himself and his two sons to sleep on under a tree outside the house in Port-de-Paix.
He pointed to cracks left by the quake and aftershock in a wall and said: "I have to protect myself and my sons."
Sunday's aftershock caused panic on streets where emergency teams were providing relief to victims of Saturday's quake, which toppled cinderblock homes and rickety buildings in several cities.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the epicenter of the aftershock was located 9.8 miles (15.8 kilometers) northnorthwest of Port-de-Paix, the city hard hit by Saturday's earthquake.
Haiti's civil protection agency said at least eight people died in the coastal city of Port-de-Paix and three people died in the nearby community of Gros-Morne in Artibonite province. Another person died in Saint-Louis du Nord, Communication Minister Eddy Jackson Alexis tweeted.
Among the dead from Saturday night's quake were a 5-year-old boy crushed by his collapsing house and a man killed in a falling auditorium. Authorities said 188 people were injured.
Impoverished Haiti, where many live in tenuous circumstances, is vulnerable to earthquakes and hurricanes. A vastly larger magnitude 7.1 quake damaged much of the capital in 2010 and killed an estimated 300,000 people.
"I feel like my life is not safe here," said nun Maryse Alsaint, director of the San Gabriel National School in GrosMorne, where several classrooms were severely damaged.
She said that about 500 students would not be able to return to school on Monday.