Via the Miami Herald, a report by Monique O. Madan and Jacqueline Charles: Deaths confirmed in Haiti earthquake; no doctors at hospital. Excerpt:
At least six deaths have been confirmed following an earthquake in northwest Haiti.
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake shook the island late Saturday night, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Jerry Chandler, the head of the country’s Civil Protection disaster response unit, told the Miami Herald that at least five deaths were registered in the Port-de-Paix area and one in Gros Morne in the northwest.
The Nouvelliste, Haiti’s daily newspaper, reported the preliminary death toll to be as high as 11, quoting a government spokesman, Eddy Jackson Alexis. Chandler said he could not confirm that number.
Tremors were felt throughout the country, triggering panic. At least two aftershocks were also registered, according to Civil Protection.
“I urge the population to keep calm, following the passage of the earthquake whose epicenter is located in the northwest coast,” Haiti President Jovenel Moïse posted on Twitter. “The (disaster)risk management system and the regional branches of the Civil Protection are on standby to assist the inhabitants of the affected areas.”
Minutes after the quake, reports started trickling in about houses, a Catholic church and the main police station in Port-de-Paix being destroyed or damaged.
The earthquake occurred about 12 miles north of Port-de-Paix in northwest Haiti.
In the northwest, several people were injured, mainly in rainy Port-de-Paix, Gros-Morne, Chansolme and on Ile de la Tortue. In Port-de-Paix the injured were ultimately treated in private hospitals because there were no doctors at the public hospital.
I don't yet find a report in Le Nouvelliste, but AlterPresse has one (in French, translatable with Google). It also mentions that it's pouring with rain all over Haiti.
