Death toll in massive Haiti quake jumps to 724

Haitians labored overnight to pick through shattered buildings in search of friends and relatives trapped in the rubble after a devastating earthquake struck the Caribbean country on Saturday, killing more than 700 people and injuring many more.

The 7.2-magnitude quake flattened hundreds of homes in the impoverished country, which is still clawing its way back from another major temblor 11 years ago, and has been without a head of state since the assassination of its president last month.

Southwestern Haiti bore the brunt of the blow, especially in the region in and around Les Cayes. Haitian officials had registered at least 724 fatalities and more than 2,800 people injured.

Hospitals in the regions hardest hit by the quake were already struggling to provide emergency care and at least three were full, according to Jerry Chandler, head of the civil protection agency.

Churches, hotels, hospitals and schools were badly damaged or destroyed, while the walls of a prison were rent open by the violent shudders that convulsed Haiti.

"We need to show a lot of solidarity with the emergency," said Haiti's Prime Minister Ariel Henry, a neurosurgeon who was thrust to the forefront of the troubled country after the assassination of President Jovenel Moise on July 7.

Some Haitians said they would spend the night sleeping in the open, traumatized by memories of the magnitude-7 quake in 2010 that struck far closer to the sprawling capital, Port-au-Prince, and killed tens of thousands of people.

AFP

Footage of Saturday's aftermath posted on social media showed residents reaching into narrow openings in piles of fallen masonry to pull shocked and distraught people from the debris of crumbled walls and roofs.

Access to the worst-hit areas was complicated by a deterioration in law and order that has left key access roads in parts of Haiti in the hands of gangs, although unconfirmed reports on social media suggested they would let aid pass.

Following Moise's assassination, which authorities have alleged was carried out by a group of largely Colombian mercenaries and Haitian accomplices, Prime Minister Henry said officials would aim to hold elections for a new president as soon as possible.

However, reports earlier this week suggested that the vote initially set for September would not take place until November. The chaos unleashed by Saturday's disaster is likely to make the task of holding prompt elections harder still.

The quake sent tremors traveling as far as Jamaica and Cuba. By early Sunday, the island had experienced six aftershocks stronger than magnitude 5.0.