Haiti earthquake death toll jumps to 724

RT.com, 15 Aug, 2021- Officials have raised the death toll from a devastating earthquake in Haiti to 724, with thousands more injured. Reeling from the quake, the Caribbean country is now bracing itself for a tropical storm.

Haiti’s civil protection agency raised the death toll on Sunday morning, a day after the country was shaken by a magnitude-7.2 earthquake. The quake struck the island nation’s southern peninsula, collapsing buildings in several towns and leaving streets strewn with rubble. A government press release noted that 500 people are dead in the south of the country – 100 in the area of Grand-Anse, 122 in the town of Nippes and 2 in the north west – and more than 2,800 people are injured.

The quake struck less than 10km (6 miles) from Nippes, and caused significant damage to nearby towns. Videos from the towns of Jeremie and Cayes showed houses completely leveled, and hospitals in these locations were reportedly overwhelmed within an hour of the quake hitting.

A powerful aftershock hit some 31km (19 miles) north of Jeremie in the early hours of Sunday morning, with the United States Geological Survey (USGS) noting that the aftershock alone had the potential to cause some casualties.