Haiti hit by DEADLY earthquake as tremor SHAKES capital city, Port-au-Prince
AT LEAST 10 people are dead after a devastating 5.8 magnitude earthquake rocked Haiti, shaking the capital city of Port-au-Prince.
The quake took place at 12.11am on Sunday morning with a depth of 10km.
The quake was centred around 12 miles (20kilometress) west-northwest of Ti Port-de-Paix off Haiti's north coast
The police chief for the north-west region, Jackson Hilaire, said seven people died in Port-de-Paix, while the interior minister, Reynaldo Brunet, said three people had died further south in the town of Gros Morne.
Le Nouvelliste newspaper said one person had died when an auditorium collapsed in Gros Morne.
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Detainees were also released from a police holding cell that was damaged.
People flocked to social media to say the quake had been felt in Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital, but there had not been any major damage.
Haiti is prone to earthquakes as the island sits adjacent to major fault lines along the so-called "Ring of Fire".
This is a horseshoe-shaped belt running around the Pacific Ocean where a large number of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur.
About 90 percent of all earthquakes occur along the Ring of Fire, which is dotted with 75 percent of all the active volcanoes on earth.
Haiti's Civil Protection agency says injuries have been reported.
But the extent of the damage and number of casualties is still unknown.
The Civil Protection agency said: "Our teams from north to south are witnessing a state of panic in some cities."
Haiti’s president Jovenel Moïse said: “An earthquake with a magnitude of 5.8 has hit Haiti.
“According to the first reports by the Civil Protection, there is damage in the Far North of the Island.
“I am working closely with authorities for an appropriate response.
This is the strongest earthquake to hit Haiti since 2010.
In 2010, Haiti was devasted by a quake measuring 7.3 on the richter scale.
The earthquake happened at 16:53 local time on Tuesday, 12 January 2010.
By January 24, at least 52 aftershocks measuring 4.5 or greater were recorded.
An estimated three million people were affected by the quake.
More than 220,000 people were killed and over 300,000 were injured.
The horrific earthquake, which was the biggest the region had seen in 200 years, left more than 1.5 million people homeless and resulted in an immense humanitarian crisis.
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