At least 227 dead, 'hundreds' injured and missing in devastating Haiti earthquake

© Facebook / Many Hands for Haiti (MH4H) 7912
A scene from earthquake-hit Haiti, August 14, 2021

At least 227 people have died following a magnitude 7.2 earthquake in Haiti. The death toll is a provisional figure and will likely rise, as buildings in several towns have been leveled.

Haitian civil protection official Jerry Chandler announced the death toll in a press conference on Saturday, hours after a magnitude 7.2 earthquake shook the island nation's southern peninsula.

The death toll will likely rise as search and rescue efforts continue. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) issued a red alert for estimated casualties, stating that "high casualties are probable and the disaster is likely widespread."

Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry has declared a state of emergency for one month, and said earlier that he would mobilize "all the resources" of his administration to help, while, in Washington, President Joe Biden has authorized a US response under USAID Administrator Samantha Power.

Buildings collapsed and streets were littered with debris in several Haitian towns, while the shockwave was felt as far afield as Cuba and Jamaica.

Haiti earthquake: At least 304 deaths and hundreds injured after 7.2 magnitude quake

The death toll in Haiti has risen to 304 after a 7.2 magnitude earthquake hit the country.

At least 1,800 others have also been injured as rescue workers pull people to safety from the rubble.

Prime minister Ariel Henry declared a one-month state of emergency for the country and said some towns were almost completely razed after the quake on Saturday.

He said he would not ask for international help until the extent of the damages was known.

Mr Henry said: "The most important thing is to recover as many survivors as possible under the rubble.

"We have learned that the local hospitals, in particular that of Les Cayes, are overwhelmed with wounded, fractured people."

The epicentre of the quake was about 78 miles west of the capital of Port-au-Prince, the US Geological Survey said.

The prime minister said the International Red Cross and hospitals in unaffected areas were helping to care for the injured, and appealed to Haitians for unity.

Mr Henry also said he wanted "structured solidarity" to avoid the confusion after the 2010 earthquake, when aid was slow to reach residents and as many as 300,000 were killed.

Among those killed in Saturday's quake was Gabriel Fortune, a longtime lawmaker and former mayor of Les Cayes. He died along with several others when his hotel, Le Manguier, collapsed, the Haitian newspaper Le Nouvelliste reported.

Philippe Boutin, 37, who lives in Puerto Rico but visits his family every year in Les Cayes, said his mother was saying morning prayers when the shaking began, but was able to leave the house.

The earthquake happened during the festivities to celebrate the town's patron saint. Mr Boutin said the hotel was probably full and the small town had more people than usual.

"We still don't know how many people are under the rubble," he said.

Naomi Verneus, a 34-year-old resident of Port-au-Prince, said she was woken up by the earthquake which shook her bed.

She said: "I woke up and didn't have time to put my shoes on. We lived the 2010 earthquake and all I could do was run. I later remembered my two kids and my mother were still inside. My neighbour went in and told them to get out. We ran to the street."

Japan rain: Nearly two million residents told to seek shelter

© KYODO
Experts warn the rain is forecast to continue throughout the week

Nearly two million people have been urged to evacuate their homes amid heavy rainfall in parts of Japan.

Highest-level rain warnings have been issued in a number of prefectures, including Fukuoka and Hiroshima.

One woman has died and her husband and daughter are missing after a landslide destroyed two homes in Nagasaki prefecture.

More than 150 troops, police and firefighters have been sent to help with rescue operations in the area.

"They are carefully searching for the missing residents, while watching out for further mudslides as the heavy rain continues," a local official told the AFP news agency.

The west of the country is worst affected but heavy downpours are expected across the country in coming days.

In Saga prefecture, a hospital evacuated patients to its upper floors on Saturday after the nearby Rokkaku river overflowed and flooded the building, Kyodo News agency reported, citing local authorities.

In total, non-compulsory evacuation warnings are now in place for more than 1.8 million people across seven prefectures, according to Japanese broadcaster NHK.

Yushi Adachi, from Japan's meteorological agency, described the current rainfall as "unprecedented".

"It's highly likely that some kind of disaster has already occurred," he said.

Local television footage showed submerged roads. Rivers in Saga and Fukuoka have overflowed with water levels still rising, local media reports said.

An official in Kumamoto, south-western Japan, said a 76-year-old man was missing after trying to secure his fishing boat.

The flooding comes just weeks after heavy rain caused landslides and prompted rivers to burst their banks, killing dozens.

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