Haiti and Earthquake

Haiti The Haitian capital has largely been destroyed in the most powerful earthquake to hit the country in more than 200 years.

Journalists from The Associated Press described severe and widespread casualties after a tour of streets where blood and bodies could be seen.

The damage is staggering even in a country accustomed to tragedy and disaster. The Associated Press reporters said the National Palace was a crumbled ruin and tens of thousands of people were homeless.

Many gravely injured people sat in the street, pleading for doctors many hours after the quake. Thousands of people were singing hymns and holding hands in public squares.

The 7.0-magnitude quake struck at 4:53 p.m. Tuesday, leaving large numbers of people unaccounted for. The quake collapsed a hospital where people screamed for help and heavily damaged the National Palace, U.N. peacekeeper headquarters and other buildings.

United Nations officials said hours after the quake struck that they still couldn’t account for a large number of U.N. personnel.

Communications were widely disrupted, making it impossible to get a clear picture of the extent of the damage. But vast damage and overwhelming casualties appeared certain even before powerful aftershocks shook the desperately poor country where many buildings are flimsy.

Electricity was out Tuesday night through the darkened capital, phone lines were down, and the airport was shut.

Karel Zelenka, a Catholic Relief Services representative in the capital of Port-au-Prince, a city of 2 million, told U.S. colleagues before phone service went dead that “there must be thousands of people dead.”

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