Haiti earthquake: Port-au-Prince rocked by 7.0 quake; buildings collapse, hundreds feared dead
via Twitter Scene of chaos and devastation in the densely-populated Port-au-Prince area of Haiti after a huge quake rocked the region.
A devastating quake left Haiti's capital in ruins, knocking down hospitals, high-rises, and churches Tuesday - and leveling the presidential palace.
"There must be thousands of people dead," Catholic Relief Services representative Karel Zelenka told colleagues by phone, just before service went out.
"People were screaming 'Jesus, Jesus' and running in all directions," said Reuters reporter Joseph Guyler Delva from the capital Port-au-Prince. "It's total chaos."
"The whole city is in darkness, you have thousands of people sitting in the streets, with nowhere to go," said Rachmani Domersant of the relief group Food for the Poor.
He and others have reported many downtown buildings collapsed in the city of 2 million, including the parliament, UN headquarters and other other official buildings.
Photographs showed the famed domed presidential palace almost completely destroyed.
President Rene Preval was not hurt, said Raymond Joseph, Haiti's ambassador to the U.S.
"It's going to be a major catastrophe when we start to count the dead," said Joseph.
The extent of the horror was only beginning to emerge. Near-complete power failures left Haiti, an impoverished island nation of 8million, largely cut off from the world.
Efforts to rescue the injured and trapped were described as desperate. People were clawing at the debris with their bare hands, trying to save loved ones, witnesses said.
In the hilly neighborhood of Petionville, where a hospital fell on top of screaming patients, a visiting U.S. federal official said he saw a number of homes collapsed into a ravine.
"The sky is just gray with dust," Henry Bahn said. "I just hear a tremendous amount of noise and shouting and screaming in the distance."
Haitian immigrants in New York City and elsewhere were frantically trying to contact relatives back home - and having no luck getting through.
The magnitude-7.0 quake hitright near Port-au-Prince at 4:53 p.m. and is believed to be the strongest quake in Haiti in more than 200 years. Two powerful aftershocks measuring 5.9 and 5.5 soon followed, further damaging structures weakened by the initial quake.
The quake struck just as Haiti was starting to show the first signs of recovery from the relentless battering of Hurricanes Fay, Gustav, Hanna and Ike in 2008, which killed hundreds and left 800,000 people homeless.
Famed Haitian musician Wyclef Jean, who has worked to improve conditions in his homeland, said he feared what will follow this "human disaster" - including looting.
"Idle hands will only make this tragedy worse," he warned.
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Ayer, un terremoto de 7,0 grados azotó las costas de Haití a las 21:53 (UTC) de la noche. Su epicentro estuvo a 15 kilómetros al occidente de la capital, Puerto Príncipe. Hasta ahora no se ha dado un número especifico de muertes, si bien se sabe que el presidente René Préval está a salvo.

El terremoto inicial fue seguido de 16 réplicas, entre 4,2 y 5,9 grados en la escala de Richter, de las cuales 7 fueron en el mismo día, y 6 hoy. Además, se sabe que el terremoto se sintió por todo el país, e inclusive, fue sentido en las costas de Cuba, Las Bahamas, República Dominicana y Jamaica.

"''El cielo se ve solo gris con polvo, solo escucho tremendo numero de sonido y gritos a distancia''", dice Henry Bahn a la Associated Press.

Se ha dado a conocer este terremoto como "potencialmente catastrófico", pues se han reportado que edificios mayores de dos pisos han colapsado como resultado de los temblores. Entre los edificios caídos se encuentra el Palacio Nacional, los ministerios de Finanzas, Obras Públicas, Comunicaciones y Cultura, el Palacio de Justicia, la sede de ONU en Haití y el edificio del banco Citybank.