Strong aftershock rattles Haiti one day after deadly earthquake

The Associated Press

PORT-DE-PAIX, Haiti — Survivors sifting through the rubble of their earthquake-toppled cinderblock homes in Haiti on Sunday were rattled by a magnitude 5.2 aftershock that caused panic and threatened to raise the death toll higher than 12.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the epicenter of the aftershock was located 9.8 miles north-northwest of Port-de-Paix, the city hard hit by Saturday night’s 5.9 magnitude earthquake.

“It was an aftershock. It was at the same location,” said Paul Caruso, a geophysicist with the USGS. “This is the first significant aftershock.”

The tremors 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.

Haiti’s civil protection agency said at least seven people died in the coastal city of Port-de-Paix and three people died in the nearby community of Gros-Morne in Artibonite province. 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.

At least 12 people were killed in the quake, Interior Minister Fednel Monchery told radio station MAGK9. Authorities said 188 people were injured.

“I feel like my life is not safe here,” said nun Maryse Alsaint, director of the San Gabriel National School in Gros-Morne, where several classrooms were severely damaged.

She said that about 500 students would not be able to return to school Monday.

The prison and police station in Port-de-Paix were damaged, leading some inmates to try to escape. Police were using tear gas to contain prisoners inside the lockup. There was no word if any inmates had escaped.

The epicenter of the quake was about 136 miles from the capital of Port-auPrince.

It was felt lightly in the capital, as well as in the neighboring Dominican Republic and in eastern Cuba, where no damage was reported.

In Haiti, officials have struggled to shore up buildings despite the two major fault lines along Hispaniola, which is the island shared with the Dominican Republic. Deep poverty and government instability have also rendered weaker homes and structures particularly vulnerable in earthquakes.

Rescue workers in Haiti said they were not looking for any more victims.

In the town of GrosMorne, one bed was covered in rubble, while the exterior walls of some homes were visibly cracked. Others tilted at precarious angles.

Pierre Jacques Baudre, a farmer and father of seven, said he was afraid to return to his home after one wall built with rocks and cement crumbled.

“The house can fall at any time,” he said.

Meanwhile, dozens of people could be seen sifting through debris before hauling away rebar to recycle and sell.

The civil protection agency issued a statement saying that houses were destroyed in Port-de-Paix, Gros-Morne, Chansolme and Turtle Island.