The quake, with a magnitude estimated at 7.0, caused the collapse of the National Palace, leveled countless shantytown dwellings and brought more suffering to a nation that was already the hemisphere’s poorest and most disaster-prone.
The earthquake was the worst in the region in more than 200 years and left the country in a shambles. As night fell in Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s densely populated capital, fires burned near the shoreline downtown, but otherwise the city fell into darkness.
(photo from the NY Times here. )
BREAKING NEWS:
THE BBC REPORTS THAT AN EARTHQUAKE OF "CATASTROPHIC STRENGTH" HAS HIT THE CAPITAL OF HAITI, CAUSING WIDESPREAD DAMAGE.
Raymond Joseph, Haiti's ambassador to the US, told CNN: "I think it is really a catastrophe of major proportions."
Title of post links to BBC report.
More news to follow.