The death toll from a 7.2 magnitude earthquake in Haiti has reached 1,297 after Haitians search shattered buildings for friends and relatives trapped underneath the rubble.
The Haitian civil protection agency reported the new toll, updating it from a previous toll of 724.
It added that more than 5,700 others were injured and many more were missing. It also said nearly 3,200 people wounded by the catastrophe are being treated in hospitals.
Most of the damage was done in Southwestern Haiti, especially in the region in and around the city of Les Cayes. Churches, hotels, hospitals, and schools were badly damaged or destroyed, while the walls of a prison fell due to the horrible incident.
People in Les Cayes attempted to free some guests stuck under the rubble of a collapsed hotel, but they were only able to recover the body of a 7-year old girl whose home was behind the facility.
“I have eight kids, and I was looking for the last one,” Jean-Claude Daniel, a resident of the area, said through tears. “I will never see her again alive. The earthquake destroyed my life. It took a child away from me.”
Another resident who lives near the epicenter of the earthquake, Christella Saint Hilaire, told AFP, “Lots of homes are destroyed, people are dead and some are at the hospital.”
On July 7, a one-month state of emergency was declared, and Haiti’s Prime Minister Ariel Henry called on Haitians “to show a lot of solidarity” amid the aftermath of the quake.
Taking to Twitter, the Prime Minister said that several emergency response teams were providing aid to disaster victims in the country’s southern regions. “I want to be closer to the population to assist them in these difficult times. That’s why I’m there,” he said.
In a tweet, the country’s civil protection agency said that efforts by “both professional rescuers and members of the public have led to many people being pulled from the rubble”. They added that hospitals are overburdened, however they are still receiving the injured.
More help also seems to be on the way.
USAID took to Twitter to announce that a search and rescue has arrived in Haiti to help search for survivors. The team includes 65 people, 4 canines, and 52,000 pounds of tools and equipment.
Alongside this, a team of experts from the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) office in Port-au-Prince was also deployed to help assess the damage and coordinate a response.
“Our hearts go out to the people of Haiti on this truly sad day,” PAHO Director Carissa Etienne said in a statement. “Our team of experts is on the ground and stands ready to assist in all aspects of health response.”
Tennis star Naomi Osaka, whose father is from Haiti, expressed her grief at the situation and said that she would donate her earnings from next week’s Western & Southern Open to earthquake relief efforts in the country.
The earthquake sent tremors traveling as far as Jamaica and Cuba, and countries in the region quickly offered help to Haiti.
The impoverished country is still recovering from the 7.0 magnitude earthquake in 2010 and has been without a head of state since the assassination of its president last month; this has also been another devastating blow.
