Haiti earthquake death toll rises to 2,207 with 344 people still missing as officials say nearly 53,000 houses were destroyed in huge 7.2 tremor
2,207 people are confirmed dead with another 344 missing following a 7.2 magnitude earthquake which rocked Haiti on August 14.
Haiti´s Civil Protection Agency announced the harrowing figures on Sunday, with the death toll increasing by 18 compared with its previous statement on Wednesday.
The agency said via Twitter that 12,268 people were injured and nearly 53,000 houses were destroyed by the quake, just eleven years after a 7.0 magnitude quake in the capital Port-au-Prince killed hundreds of thousands in 2010.
The U.S.-based aid agency Samaritan´s Purse opened a field hospital on Saturday in the most heavily affected city of Les Cayes, but authorities are struggling with security at distribution points.
The quake struck Haiti amid a period of extreme political upheaval following the assassination of President Jovenel Moise last month which led to rising levels of civil unrest.
2,207 people are confirmed dead with another 344 missing following a 7.2 magnitude earthquake which rocked Haiti on August 14
International aid has been dispatched to the area, with US charities setting up field hospitals while Mexican rescuers traverse the rubble looking for survivors
US Christian charity Samaritan's Purse has set up a field hospital and is helping to distribute aid, but food distribution is being hijacked by local gangs
Rescue workers are transporting survivors to field hospitals via helicopter
Recovery efforts have been impeded by flooding and damage to access roads, feeding tensions in some of the hardest-hit areas.
Tropical Storm Grace battered the south of Haiti on August 15 and 16, preventing rescuers from carrying out extensive rescue missions and officials said some areas were hit by several inches of rainfall before the storm moved on.
Exasperation over delays in assistance has boiled over, with residents looting food packages and gangs hijacking aid trucks in an attempt to round up supplies for profit.
The head of Haiti´s office of civil protection, Jerry Chandler, acknowledged the severity of the situation, and admitted 'people are getting aggressive' as the destruction and subsequent storm prevented aid from arriving.
The violence is nothing new to the people of Haiti, a country that had been under immense strain with the coronavirus, gang violence, worsening poverty and the July 7 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse when the quake hit.
Meanwhile, families who lost loved ones in the disaster have been forced to gather in open fields to hold funerals and church services, as many of the structures were destroyed or too severely damaged by the quake.
Some children were orphaned in the quake and some youngsters were starting to go hungry, said Carl-Henry Petit-Frère, a field manager for Save the Children, which said in a statement that it was distributing what it could to people living on the streets without protection from the wind and rain.
'I see children crying on the street, people asking us for food, but we are low on food ourselves as well,' Petit-Frère said, adding that children were warned not to go into houses because they could collapse.
'The organizations that are here are doing what they can, but we need more supplies. Food, clean water and shelter are needed most, and we need them fast.'
Funerals and church services are taking part in open fields after the earthquake destroyed many of the city's churches and communal buildings
Earthquake victims try to grab a food bag during a food distribution. Aid packages have been hijacked by gangs and residents have fought over supplies as tensions boil over
Mexican firefighters known as 'Topos' work in the early morning hours in a search and rescue mission
Rescue workers accommodate a survivor on Army helicopter at the airport in Les Cayes
A vendor holds onto a scale as he waits for scavengers to bring him found metal pieces to weigh, at the site of a home that was destroyed by last week's 7.2 magnitude earthquake