Friday, 15th January 2010 by Ian Brown
By now the whole world has seen or heard of the devastation caused by a 7.0 magnitude earthquake that shook Haiti on January 12th, with particular impact on the capital Port-au-Prince.
Estimates put the death toll in the tens of thousands, and the homeless or injured in the millions. As Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, a huge international aid effort is underway. See below for how to help.
Google and GeoEye have released updated imagery of the city which reveals in graphic detail the extent of the destruction.
Please note: the new image overlay can take a while to load; be patient.
Among the major buildings suffering serious damage were the Presidential Palace:
The United Nations country headquarters, and the Hotel Montana, where many people had been based while working in peacekeeping roles:
and the National Assembly Building, where the leader of the Senate was killed.
But everywhere you look entire buildings, or groups of buildings, have collapsed entirely.
While relief is starting to flood in to the country, survivors are living in crowds on the streets, or finding ways to band together in safe places (if there are more aftershocks), such as in a sports stadium:
Google has a page of information on how to help. You can also donate directly to your local Red Cross, Oxfam or many other aid groups around the world.