Earthquake in Haiti, the death toll rises: over 1300 dead

Eleven years after the earthquake that devastated the island, a new earthquake measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale occurred on Saturday 14 August at 8.30 local time. death toll rose to 1,300. The epicenter was about 130 kilometers west of the capital Port-au-Prince, near the city of Petit Trou de Nippes. In particular, the localities of Les Cayes and Jeremie were affected.

More than a thousand buildings have been razed to the ground. Caritas Haiti mobilized its teams reaching the areas affected by the earthquake, namely the departments of Grande-Anse (diocese of Je’re’mie), of the South (diocese of Les Cayes) and of Nippes (diocese of Anse-a’- Veau-Miragoane) and verified that they are over a thousand buildings razed to the ground, including churches, schools and hospitals.

Not just the earthquake, the Haitian government has released one in these hours “Yellow alert” for the impending passage of Hurricane Grace, downgraded for now to storm. This was reported by the news portal Haiti24.net. According to the Florida National Hurricane Center (NHC), Grace yesterday lost some of her strength and was downgraded from a tropical storm to a tropical depression. Currently, it is passing through Puerto Rico, where heavy rains are recorded in the western region of the country. The storm is accompanied by winds up to 55 km / h and by heavy rains which in certain circumstances can cause rivers to overflow, floods and landslides.