The southwest of Haiti was the most affected, especially the region of the city of Les Cayes and its surroundings. At a press conference on Sunday, Haitian officials said the death toll from the disaster rose to 724 as rescue efforts continued.
Churches, hotels, hospitals and schools were badly damaged or destroyed, while the walls of a prison were cracked by the violent earthquakes that convulsed Haiti.
“We need to show a lot of solidarity with the emergency,” said Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry, a neurosurgeon who was put in charge of the troubled country after the assassination of President Jovenel Moise on July 7.
Rescue operations will be complicated by the arrival of Tropical Storm Grace, which will hit Haiti on Monday with heavy rainfall. Storm surges are also possible, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.
At the Vatican, Pope Francis urged nations to send quick help. “May the solidarity of all alleviate the consequences of the tragedy,” he told pilgrims and tourists at his Sunday blessing in St. Peter’s Square.
The United States sent vital supplies and deployed a 65-person team to conduct search and rescue with specialized teams, said Samantha Power, administrator of the Agency for International Development.
Some Haitians said they spent Saturday night sleeping in the open, traumatized by memories of the 2010 magnitude 7 earthquake, which struck much closer to the capital, Port-au-Prince, killing tens of thousands of people.