More than 300 people have been killed after the deadly earthquake in Haiti.
After a magnitude 7.2 earthquake razed hundreds of people to the ground, Haitians worked overnight in broken buildings to find relatives and friends trapped in the rubble. Home.
southwest Haiti Bear the brunt, especially in the city of Les Cayes and its surrounding areas.
As of Saturday night, Haitian officials have registered at least 304 deaths and more than 1,800 injured.
Churches, hotels, hospitals, and schools were severely damaged or destroyed, and the prison walls were torn apart by the violent shaking that swept Haiti at 8:29 that morning.
“We need to show great solidarity with the emergency,” said Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry, a neurosurgeon who shocked President Jovenel Moise on July 7 After the land was assassinated, he was pushed to the forefront of the troubled country.
This is 11 years after another major earthquake that killed more than 200,000 people.
Since the president was assassinated last month, Haiti has not had a head of state.
A video of the aftermath posted on social media on Saturday showed residents reaching into the narrow openings of piles of collapsed masonry, pulling out shocked and upset people from the debris of the surrounding collapsed walls and roof.
Due to the deterioration of law and order, the main passages in parts of Haiti fell into the hands of gangs, and access to the worst-hit areas became more complicated, even though unconfirmed reports on social media suggested that they would let aid pass.
After Moise was assassinated, the authorities claimed that it was done by a group of mainly Colombian mercenaries and Haitian associates. Prime Minister Henry stated that the officials’ goal was to hold a new presidential election as soon as possible.
However, reports earlier this week indicated that the vote originally scheduled for September will not take place until November, and the chaos caused by the natural disaster on Saturday may make the task of timely elections even more difficult.
The earthquake was felt as far away as Jamaica and Cuba, and countries in the region quickly offered help to Haiti.
“I feel sorry for the devastating earthquake that occurred in the south of St. Luis Du, Haiti this morning. Through the United States Agency for International Development, we support efforts to assess damage and assist in recovery and reconstruction,” said US President Joe Biden.
Having suffered from political instability for a long time, Haitians have also been affected by international aid efforts and peacekeeping deployments in the past decade.
The sexual misconduct scandal centered on Oxfam International has destroyed the records of Haitian charity workers, and the cholera outbreak related to UN peacekeepers has killed thousands.
Tennis star Naomi Osaka, whose father’s family is from Haiti, wrote on Twitter that she expressed grief over the recent earthquake and said that she would use all the money she won in a game next week for disaster relief work.
“I know the blood of our ancestors is very strong,” she said, “we will continue to improve.”
