Death toll rises to 15 in Haiti earthquake, 300 injured

The death toll in a devastating earthquake that struck Haiti on Saturday rises as it has killed 15 people, injured another 300 and destroyed 40 houses so far. The information was conveyed by Jerry Chandler, head of the Caribbean country’s civil protection agency on Monday.

Chandler was speaking at a news conference to report on the human cost of the relatively shallow, magnitude 5.9 quake, which hit the north of the impoverished country late on Saturday.

Haiti's civil protection agency said it will soon deploy 70 soldiers to the Nord-Ouest and Artibonite provinces that were hardest hit, noting it already sent 14 soldiers along with nurses and doctors to the area.

Thousands of people along Haiti's north coast dragged mattresses and chairs outside after a strong 5.2 magnitude aftershock Sunday rattled cinderblock homes already cracked by Saturday's earthquake.

Sunday's aftershock caused panic on streets where emergency teams were providing relief to victims. The U.S. Geological Survey said the epicenter of the aftershock was located 9.8 miles (15.8 kilometers) north-northwest of Port-de-Paix, which is about 136 miles (219 kilometers) from the capital of Port-au-Prince.

On Monday, Haiti's Ministry of Communication released figures stating that at least 15 people had died, nine in Port-de-Paix, one in Saint-Louis du Nord and 5 in Gros Morne. Among the dead were a 5-year-old boy crushed by his collapsing house.

The tremor caused widespread panic in the north and was one of the strongest to shake Haiti since a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck near the capital Port-au-Prince in 2010. That quake killed tens of thousands of people.

President Jovenel Moise urged people to donate blood and asked international aid agencies to coordinate with local agencies to avoid duplicated efforts. The government did not provide an estimate of the damages.

The quake was felt only lightly in the capital, as well as in the neighboring Dominican Republic and in eastern Cuba, where no damage was reported.

(Agency inputs)