Thousands are feared dead after a massive earthquake of 7.0 on the Richter scale struck Haiti at 4:53p.m. EST on Tuesday. The quake was the largest in 200 years, and Haitians citizens are struggling to find survivors in the rubble of collapsed buildings.
A second aftershock struck just before 11pm EST, 10 miles south west of the capital city of Port-au-Prince.
While initial reports put the number of casualties in the thousands, Haiti’s Ambassador to the U.S. told C.B.S. this morning there is "no way of estimating" the death toll at the current time.
A Haitian official who was driving his vehicle at the time of earthquake spoke with the Ambassador soon after the first tremor, and said this is an event of “catastrophe of major proportions.”
Many international diplomats stationed in Haiti have been reported dead. At least 7 U.N. peacekeepers in the area were reported among them.
Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere, and one of the poorest in the world. It was hit with several hurricanes in 2008, and had yet to fully recover when hit by Tuesday’s massive earthquake.
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