7.0 quake devastates impoverished Haiti

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — A powerful earthquake rocked the small, impoverished island nation of Haiti on Tuesday, collapsing a hospital, the presidential palace and other buildings, triggering massive panic and claiming an as-yet uncounted number of lives — perhaps thousands.

Screams for help emanated from felled buildings, and chaos reigned. One diplomat called the quake "a catastrophe of major proportions" in one of the countries least equipped to handle it.

As night fell on the capital of Port-au-Prince, a city of 2 million, and other towns, reports emerged of extensive destruction, homes and buildings in shambles; trapped, badly injured victims; and survivors sleeping in streets. Tsunami alerts were issued for Cuba, the Bahamas and much of the Caribbean, and numerous aftershocks were reported.

The quake, the most powerful to hit the region in more than 200 years, measured 7.0, was centered about 10 miles west of Port-au-Prince and had a shallow depth of 5 miles. It struck around 4:53 p.m., hitting one of the city's most densely, precariously populated areas.

All of that augured vast damage and overwhelming casualties. Electricity was out Tuesday night through the darkened capital, telephone communications were down and the airport shut.

Many gravely injured people still sat in the streets early today, pleading for doctors. With almost no emergency services to speak of, survivors had few other options.

"The hospitals cannot handle all these victims," said Louis-Gerard Gilles, a doctor and former senator. "Haiti needs to pray. We all need to pray together."

Even a rough estimate of casualties was impossible, but it was clear from a tour of the capital that tens of thousands of people had lost their homes and that many, perhaps thousands, had perished. Many buildings in Haiti are flimsy and dangerous even under normal conditions.

"We are hearing of sheer devastation," said Caryl Stern, president of the U.S. Fund for UNICEF, which has 100 workers in Haiti. UNICEF employees reported seeing a school collapse with children inside.

"It's horrible," Stern said. "The worst earthquake in such a poor region. You are starting from behind the eight-ball."

Haiti's ambassador to the U.S., Raymond Joseph, said in Washington, D.C., that he spoke to officials in Port-au-Prince and that President Rene Preval was safe but that his regal headquarters was badly damaged. Joseph quoted a senior Haitian official saying that "buildings were crumbling right and left" near the palace.

"I think it is really a catastrophe of major proportions," he said.

The Catholic Diocese of Norwich, Conn., said at least two Americans working at its Haitian aid mission were believed trapped in rubble.

Teams of rescue and aid workers were rushing to Haiti to assess the damage.

Alain Le Roy, the chief of a U.N. force that has been keeping the peace since a 2004 rebellion ousted the president, said the mission's headquarters had collapsed and a large number of personnel are missing.

He said U.N. troops, mostly from Brazil, were surrounding the wreckage of the five-story building trying to rescue people late Tuesday, but "as we speak no one has been rescued from this main headquarters."

State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said U.S. Embassy personnel were "literally in the dark" after power failed. "They reported structures down. They reported a lot of walls down. They did see a number of bodies in the street and on the sidewalk that had been hit by debris. So clearly, there's going to be serious loss of life in this," he said.

President Obama issued a statement saying his "thoughts and prayers go out to those who have been affected by this earthquake."

The State Department said the United States will provide military and civilian disaster assistance to Haiti, the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere.

The Caribbean is not usually considered a seismic danger zone, but earthquakes have struck here in the past. Kristin Marano, a geophysicist for the U.S. Geological Survey, called it the strongest quake since 1770 in what is now Haiti. In 1946, a magnitude-8.1 quake struck the Dominican Republic and also shook Haiti, producing a tsunami that killed 1,790 people.

With many poor residents living in tin-roof shacks that sit precariously on steep ravines and with much of the construction in Port-au-Prince and throughout the country of questionable quality, the expectation was that the quake caused major damage to buildings and significant loss of life, said earthquake expert Tom Jordan at the University of Southern California.

"It's going to be a real killer," he said.

Compiled from The Associated Press, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post and McClatchy Newspapers