Haiti Earthquake – Death Toll Reaches Nearly 2,000

At least 1,941 people are known to have died in Haiti in Saturday’s powerful earthquake – a rise of more than 500 on the previous figure, according officials.

Rescue workers have managed to pull 34 people alive from the rubble but many are still missing after the 7.2-magnitude quake. The search for survivors has been hampered by heavy rains brought this week by Tropical Storm Grace.

Nearly 10,000 people have been injured and hospitals were left overwhelmed.The UN says about 500,000 children now have limited or no access to shelter, safe water and food.

Bruno Maes, the UN Children’s Fund (Unicef) representative in the country said Countless Haitian families who have lost everything due to the earthquake are now living literally with their feet in the water due to the flooding.

Many have been staying in make-shift tents erected on a football field in the city of Les Cayes, one of the areas worst affected by the quake.

Haitians live in the Gabion Stadium where a camp was installed, after hundreds of Haitians lost their homes due to the earthquake last Saturday, in Les Cayes, Haiti, 17 August 2021

The UN’s World Food Programme said it was working closely with the Haitian authorities to provide assistance to survivors.

And the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that following negotiations, armed gangs – who have previously attacked people travelling to Les Cayes from the capital – had promised to let an aid convoy through.