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Many feared dead as huge earthquake hits Haiti

Caribbean on tsunami alert as rescue operation gets under way

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· By Rory Carroll The Guardian, Wednesday 13 January 2010

This Twitter image shows Haitians standing amid the rubble in Port-au-Prince. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

A huge rescue operation was under way this morning after a powerful earthquake hit Haiti, toppling buildings in the capital Port-au-Prince, burying residents in rubble and sparking tsunami alerts in what is feared to be a major catastrophe.

A 7.0-magnitude quake – the biggest recorded in this part of the Caribbean – and the largest to hit Haiti in more than 200 years, rocked Port-au-Prince last night, collapsing a hospital and sending houses tumbling into ravines. Hundreds are feared to have been killed.

Witnesses reported seeing bodies in the rubble and clouds of dust shrouding the city, but with telephone communications cut the extent of damage was not immediately clear.

"Everything started shaking, people were screaming, houses started collapsing, it's total chaos," said Joseph Guyler Delva, a Reuters reporter. "I saw people under the rubble, and people killed. People were screaming 'Jesus, Jesus' and running in all directions."

Raymond Joseph, Haiti's ambassador to the US, told CNN from Washington: "I think it is really a catastrophe of major proportions."

The quake, which was shallow, with a depth of just 6.2 miles, struck at 4.53pm local time with the epicentre 10 miles south-west of Port-au-Prince, according to the US Geological Survey. It was said to have lasted around a minute and was quickly followed by two strong aftershocks of 5.9 and 5.5 magnitude. The last major temblor to hit the capital was a magnitude 6.7 in 1984.

The size and proximity to heavily populated slum areas made Tom Jordan, a quake specialist at the University of Southern California, fear the worst. "It's going to be a real killer."

The headquarters of the UN Peacekeeping Mission in Haiti sustained "serious damage" and a large number of UN personnel in Haiti are unaccounted for, the UN peacekeeping chief said last night.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a statement, "My heart goes out to the people of Haiti after this devastating earthquake. At this time of tragedy, I am very concerned for the people of Haiti and also for the many United Nations staff who serve there. I am receiving initial reports and following developments closely."

Before telephone lines were broken, Karel Zelenka, a Catholic Relief Services representative, told US-based colleagues that "there must be thousands of people dead," the aid group reported.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center ruled out a major tsunami but said coasts up to 60 miles away might be affected, prompting alerts in neighbouring Dominican Republic, Cuba and the Bahamas.

Haiti, a former French colony which forms half of the island of Hispaniola, is especially vulnerable to natural disasters. Most of the capital's 3 million people live in hillside slums made of wood, tin and cheap concrete.

"Everybody is just totally, totally freaked out and shaken," said Henry Bahn, a US agriculture official visiting Haiti. "The sky is just grey with dust." He was walking to his hotel room when the ground began to shake. "I just held on and bounced across the wall. I just heard a tremendous amount of noise and shouting and screaming in the distance."

A local employee for the US charity Food for the Poor reported seeing a five-storey building collapse in Port-au-Prince. A colleague said there were more houses destroyed than standing in Delmas Road, a major thoroughfare.

The hospital in Petionville, a well to do neighbourhood, home to diplomats and expatriates, was wrecked. As darkness fell survivors filled the streets trying to dig people from rubble with their bare hands and improvised tools.

The US president, Barack Obama, issued a statement saying his "thoughts and prayers" were with the people of Haiti. "We are closely monitoring the situation and we stand ready to assist the people of Haiti."

Former President Bill Clinton, the UN's special envoy for Haiti, issued a statement saying his office would do whatever he could to help the nation recover and rebuild.
"My thoughts and prayers are with the people of Haiti," he said.

The quake was felt in the Dominican Republic, sending people in the capital Santo Domingo running on to the streets in panic. Houses shook in eastern Cuba, but no major damage was reported. "We felt it very strongly and I would say for a long time. We had time to evacuate," said Monsignor Dionisio Garcia, archbishop of Santiago.

Felix Augustin, Haiti's consul general in New York, said: "Communication is absolutely impossible. I cannot get through."