Magnitude 7.0 Earthquake in Haiti

 photo courtesy Al Jazeera

Haiti was struck today by a magnitude 7.0 earthquake. Communications are difficult as power has been disrupted. According to Jonathan Katz at Huffington Post,

"Alain Le Roy, the U.N. peacekeeping chief in New York, said late Tuesday that the headquarters of the 9,000-member Haiti peacekeeping mission and other U.N. installations were seriously damaged."

"Contacts with the U.N. on the ground have been severely hampered," Le Roy said in a statement, adding: "For the moment, a large number of personnel remain unaccounted for."

"Felix Augustin, Haiti's consul general in New York, said a portion of the National Palace had disintegrated."

This earthquake is the strongest since 1770 and was centered approximately 10 miles from Port-Au-Prince at a depth of 5 miles. Schools and hospitals were most seriously affected as they are the largest, multi-level buildings.

Marc Ambinder at The Atlantic reports that sources "in the know" told him that it was "catastrophe upon a catastrophe."

As one of the poorest countries, this country is especially devastated by any kind of natural disaster and one of this magnitude will be especially hard-hitting and needing all of our help.

As more information becomes available, I will post it.

Thanks for stopping by. Come back soon.
k