Haiti earthquake: Death toll count rises to over 1,400; injured over 6,000

Heavy rains started lashing the country on Monday afternoon, creating yet another crisis for exhausted, newly homeless people who needed shelter.

Rescue workers and doctors with little equipment worked feverishly on Monday to save victims of the massive earthquake in southwestern Haiti, that killed more than 1,400 people, while an approaching storm threatened more suffering.

Heavy rains started lashing the country on Monday afternoon, creating yet another crisis for exhausted, newly homeless people who needed shelter.

Haiti’s Civil Protection Agency on Monday said that the death toll from Saturday’s earthquake rose to 1,419 and the number of injured went up to 6,000, as many of whom have had to wait under the burning heat, even on an airport tarmac, cried for help.

“We had planned to put up tents (in hospital patios), but we were told that could not be safe,” said Gede Peterson, director of Les Cayes General Hospital.

Haiti was hit by an earthquake of magnitude-7.2 hit at 8:30 am local time on August 14. The epicenter of the quake was located about 7.5 miles from the southern town of Saint-Louis du Sud and 78 miles from the capital, Port-au-Prince, according to the US Geological Survey. It had a depth of 6.2 miles.

More than 37,000 homes and other buildings including hospitals, schools and churches were destroyed or damaged. The port city of Les Cayes, which has a population of about 125,000, was among the hardest hit, and hospitals there were overwhelmed by the number of injured.