Rescuers in Haiti continued to search through the widespread damage Monday left by a massive earthquake over the weekend. The video above shows some of the damage and the recovery of multiple bodies.
As of Sunday, Haiti’s Civil Protection Agency said 1,297 people had died, and 5,700 were injured from the earthquake.
Officials report more than 7,000 homes were destroyed and nearly 5,000 more suffered damage. This left some 30,000 families homeless. Hospitals, schools, offices and churches were also destroyed or badly damaged. After sundown Sunday, Les Cayes was darkened by intermittent blackouts, and many people slept outside. The earthquake even triggered landslides that hamper rescue efforts.
Saturday’s earthquake was centered about 80 miles west of Port-Au-Prince. It registered a 7.2 magnitude, making it bigger than the earthquake that killed an estimated 200,000 and injured 300,000 in Haiti back in 2010.
The devastation could soon worsen as Tropical Depression Grace comes through the area. It has been predicted to reach Haiti Monday night. The Civil Protection Agency said strong winds, heavy rain, rough seas, mudslides and flash flooding were expected. Rainfall amounts could reach 15 inches in some areas.
Prime Minister Ariel Henry has declared a one-month state of emergency for all of Haiti saying the first government aid convoys had started moving help to areas where towns were destroyed and hospitals were overwhelmed.
UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore said many Haitians urgently need health care, clean water and shelter, and children separated from their parents also needed protection. “Little more than a decade on, Haiti is reeling once again,” Fore said. “And this disaster coincides with political instability, rising gang violence, alarmingly high rates of malnutrition among children, and the COVID-19 pandemic — for which Haiti has received just 500,000 vaccine doses, despite requiring far more.”
The country of 11 million people received its first batch of U.S.-donated coronavirus vaccines only last month via COVAX, a United Nations program for low-income countries. As for the political instability Fore mentioned, she is referring to the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in July.
