Strong aftershock rattles Haiti
PORT-DE-PAIX, HAITI >> A magnitude 5.2 aftershock struck Haiti on Sunday, even as survivors of the previous day’s temblor were sifting through the rubble of their cinderblock homes. The death toll stood at 12, with fears it could rise.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the epicenter of the aftershock was 9.8 miles north-northwest of Portde-Paix, the city hard hit by Saturday night’s 5.9 magnitude earthquake. Sunday’s aftershock had a depth of 6 miles.
“I don’t feel safe even inside my house,” Gary Joseph said as he put 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.”
The 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.
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 GrosMorne
in Artibonite province. One 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.