An earthquake on Tuesday killed at least four people and injured more than three dozen in western Haiti, Civil Protection authorities in the impoverished Caribbean nation said.
The 4.9-magnitude quake struck in the isolated department of Grand’Anse, nearly 300 kilometers west of the capital Port-au-Prince, at a relatively shallow depth of 10 kilometers, according to the US Geological Survey.
Three of the dead “are members of the same family and died when their house collapsed,” Christine Monquele, head of Civil Protection in Grand’Anse, told AFP on Tuesday.
At least 36 other people were injured.
“We are deeply saddened by the loss of life, the destruction of property and the suffering of the Haitian people caused by the earthquake,” Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said in New York.
This quake comes a few days after strong storms hit Haiti, the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere, leaving at least 42 dead and 11 missing, according to Civil Protection services.
“The UN stands ready to work with the Haitian authorities and other partners to help alleviate the suffering of those in need in connection with the earthquake and of course the other natural disaster that is the floods and landslides that we have seen in the last few days,” Dujarric said.
He added that the World Food Program (WFP) is prepared to distribute some 350,000 meals and other food aid to those in need.
But continued insecurity and damaged roads “are hampering relief efforts,” Dujarric said, referring in part to growing gang violence in the country.
The quake began shortly after 0900 GMT off the coast of the southwestern peninsula of the Caribbean nation, which is regularly hit by destructive earthquakes.
In 2010, a magnitude 7.0 earthquake killed more than 200,000 people in Haiti, leaving the capital in ruins and leaving 1.5 million homeless.
In August 2021, the southwest of the peninsula was devastated by an even stronger 7.2 magnitude earthquake that killed more than 2,200 people and destroyed 130,000 homes across the territory.