Entire Hospital Collapses In 7.3 Magnitude Haiti Earthquake

A very powerful earthquake, with a magnitude of 7.3, hit the country of Haiti on Tuesday. It has been reported that a hospital has collapsed and other buildings have been damaged. Casualties have not yet been reported. A tsunami watch was posted for Haiti and parts of Cuba, the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas.

The earthquake was centered approximately 10 miles west of the capital of Port-au-Prince, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). There were two aftershocks noted. An aftershock is an earthquake that occurs after a previous earthquake, the mainshock. An aftershock is in the same region of the main shock but always of a smaller magnitude.
Just three days ago the USGS reported a 6.5-magnitude earthquake that struck off of California’s northern coast at approximately 4:30 pm PT on January 9, about 25 miles from Eureka.
Today’s earthquake in Haiti is considered “major”. An earthquake that measures 7.0-7.9 on the Richter scale can cause serious damage over larger areas. There are, on average, about 18 earthquakes in this range per year.
Written by Cheryl Phillips
HULIQ.com
sources: USGS, CNN, Wikipedia

Epicenter of today's earthquake in Haiti
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6 thoughts on “Entire Hospital Collapses In 7.3 Magnitude Haiti Earthquake

  1. THIS IS QUOTED FROM RENE PREVAL’S BLOG- Typos left intact for accuracy

    “A powerful earthquake of 7.0 magnitude has stricken our country, especially the area of carrefour, Petionville and even Port-au-prince.

    The national palace, DGI and other buildings are damaged.

    Let us pray that God assist our brothers and sisters in their hour of need.

    God Bless!”

  2. The airport is closed- runway is a total mess!!
    The roads are very bad.
    30% of the buildings are damaged or collapsed in the affected areas.
    NO electricity, and communications are down

  3. Quoted from news article- reported by people trying to contact the director of the hospital that collapsed

    “Elsie St. Louis-Accilien, the director of the Haitian Americans United for Progress in Queens, N.Y., said that she was able to reach the director of Ofatma hospital, in Port-au-Prince. “They are trapped inside,” Ms. St. Louis-Accilien said in a telephone interview. “They were pretty shaken, but they were relieved to be alive.”

    She said that the director said that there was “a lot of smoke, a lot of dust,” and that her phone has been ringing nonstop. “People are calling me, elected officials are calling, asking what we can do.”

  4. “I think it is really a catastrophe of major proportions,” Raymond Joseph, the US ambassador to Haiti, told CNN from the capital Port-au-Prince.

  5. Karel Zelenka, a Catholic Relief Services representative in Port-au-Prince, told colleagues in the US “there must be thousands of people dead”.

    The aid worker had managed to phone his colleagues before communication links to the country failed.

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