At 08:29:09 EDT on 14 August 2021, a magnitude7.2

earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from ...

struck the

Tiburon Peninsula The Tiburon Peninsula (french: Péninsule de Tiburon), or The Xaragua Peninsula, simply "the Tiburon" (''le Tiburon''), is a region of Haiti encompassing most of Haiti's southern coast. It starts roughly at the southernmost point of the Haiti-D ...

in the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

nation of

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

. It had a 10-kilometre-deep (6.2 mi)

hypocenter In seismology, a hypocenter or hypocentre () is the point of origin of an earthquake or a subsurface nuclear explosion. A synonym is the focus of an earthquake. Earthquakes An earthquake's hypocenter is the position where the strain energy s ...

near

Petit-Trou-de-Nippes Petit-Trou-de-Nippes (; ht, Ti Twou de Nip) is a commune in the Anse-à-Veau Arrondissement, in the Nippes Nippes ( French) or Nip ( Haitian Creole) is one of the ten departments (the highest-level political subdivisions) of Haiti located ...

, approximately 150 kilometres (93 mi) west of the capital,

Port-au-Prince Port-au-Prince ( , ; ht, Pòtoprens ) is the capital and most populous city of Haiti. The city's population was estimated at 987,311 in 2015 with the metropolitan area estimated at a population of 2,618,894. The metropolitan area is define ...

. Tsunami warnings were briefly issued for the Haitian coast. At least 2,248 people were confirmed killed and above 12,200 injured, mostly in the Sud Department. An estimated 650,000 people are in need of assistance. At least 137,500 buildings were damaged or destroyed. The quake is the deadliest earthquake and deadliest natural disaster of 2021. It is also the worst disaster to strike Haiti since the 2010 earthquake.

UNICEF UNICEF (), originally called the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in full, now officially United Nations Children's Fund, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Devel ...

estimates more than half a million children were affected. The Haitian Civil Protection General Directorate (DGPC) warned of a possible large humanitarian crisis resulting from the earthquake.

USAID The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government that is primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance. With a budget of over $27 bi ...

provided

US $ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

32 million in foreign aid to Haiti for reconstruction efforts following the devastating earthquake. This earthquake had the most casualties of any disaster since the 2018 Sulawesi earthquake, which killed between 4,340 and 5,007 people, mostly from a tsunami. The economic loss from this earthquake is estimated at over 1.5 billion US dollars, over 10% of the country’s economy.

Tectonic setting

Haiti lies within the complex plate boundary zone between the

North American Plate The North American Plate is a tectonic plate covering most of North America, Cuba, the Bahamas, extreme northeastern Asia, and parts of Iceland and the Azores. With an area of , it is the Earth's second largest tectonic plate, behind the Pacific ...

to the north and the

Caribbean Plate The Caribbean Plate is a mostly oceanic tectonic plate underlying Central America and the Caribbean Sea off the north coast of South America. Roughly 3.2 million square kilometers (1.2 million square miles) in area, the Caribbean Plate borders ...

to the south. This zone is interpreted to contain a number of microplates, particularly the

Gonâve Microplate Gonave may refer to: *Gulf of Gonâve *Gonâve Island *Gonâve Microplate See also *Gonaïves Gonaïves (; ht, Gonayiv, ) is a commune in northern Haiti, and the capital of the Artibonite department of Haiti. It has a population of about 300,00 ...

, which is bounded to the north by the

Septentrional-Oriente fault zone The Septentrional-Orient fault zone (SOFZ) is a system of active fault, active coaxial left lateral-moving fault (geology)#Strike-slip faults, strike slip faults that runs along the northern side of the island of Hispaniola where Haiti and the Dom ...

and to the south by the

Walton fault zone The Walton fault zone is a major active left lateral (sinistral) strike-slip fault, forming part of the southern boundary to the Cayman Trough. It extends from the Mid-Cayman Rise spreading center in the west to Jamaica in the east. It has a total ...

and the

Enriquillo–Plantain Garden fault zone The Enriquillo–Plantain Garden fault zone (EPGFZ or EPGZ) is a system of active coaxial left lateral-moving strike slip faults which runs along the southern side of the island of Hispaniola, where Haiti and the Dominican Republic are located. T ...

, all of which are active left lateral

transform fault A transform fault or transform boundary, is a fault along a plate boundary where the motion is predominantly horizontal. It ends abruptly where it connects to another plate boundary, either another transform, a spreading ridge, or a subductio ...

s. Although dominated by lateral motion the plate boundary zone also accommodates a component of north-south shortening. This has led to overall

transpression In geology, transpression is a type of strike-slip deformation that deviates from simple shear because of a simultaneous component of shortening perpendicular to the fault plane. This movement ends up resulting in oblique shear. It is generally ve ...

along the main strike-slip faults. The largest earthquake in the region prior to the 2021 event was in 1952, and measured 6.2 magnitude, occurring 35 km to the west. In the Tiburon Peninsula the main structure is the Enriquillo–Plantain Garden fault zone, which runs along its length. This fault zone carries almost half of the left lateral displacement between the North American and Caribbean plates, with a displacement rate of about 7 mm per year. The epicentre of the 2010 Haiti earthquake was located at the eastern end of the peninsula and was caused by movement on previously unknown

thrust fault A thrust fault is a break in the Earth's crust, across which older rocks are pushed above younger rocks. Thrust geometry and nomenclature Reverse faults A thrust fault is a type of reverse fault that has a dip of 45 degrees or less. If ...

s that form part of the overall fault zone, without rupturing the main strike-slip fault strand. The same fault zone is thought to have been the source of the

1751 In Britain and its colonies (except Scotland), 1751 only had 282 days due to the British Calendar Act of 1751, which ended the year on 31 December (rather than nearly three months later according to its previous rule). Events January&nd ...

and

1770 Events January– March * January 1 – The foundation of Fort George, Bombay is laid by Colonel Keating, principal engineer, on the site of the former Dongri Fort. * February 1 – Thomas Jefferson's home at Shadwell, Virgi ...

earthquakes that destroyed the capital

Earthquake

According to the

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...

, the earthquake occurred as a result of oblique-reverse faulting near the

west of the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince, consistent with its location and the observed

focal mechanism The focal mechanism of an earthquake describes the deformation in the source region that generates the seismic waves. In the case of a fault-related event it refers to the orientation of the fault plane that slipped and the slip vector and is ...

. It had an estimated hypocentral depth of . Finite-fault Inversion and Back Projection indicated an earthquake rupture on two separate strike-slip and reverse faults that are not connected to the main strand of the plate boundary fault. The initial rupture occurred on a

blind thrust fault A thrust fault is a break in the Earth's crust, across which older rocks are pushed above younger rocks. Thrust geometry and nomenclature Reverse faults A thrust fault is a type of reverse fault that has a dip of 45 degrees or less. If ...

, then jumped onto a

strike-slip fault In geology, a fault is a planar fracture or discontinuity in a volume of rock across which there has been significant displacement as a result of rock-mass movements. Large faults within Earth's crust result from the action of plate tectonic ...

; both separate branches of the plate boundary fault, and previously unidentified. The rupture process of the earthquake indicate the highly oblique motion between the two tectonic plates. Two weeks after the far deadlier 2010 earthquake, a paper was published about

Coulomb stress transfer Coulomb stress transfer is a seismic-related geological process of stress changes to surrounding material caused by local discrete deformation events. Using mapped displacements of the Earth's surface during earthquakes, the computed Coulomb stress ...

due to the event. The paper identified two sections east and west of the 2010 rupture which had accumulated significant strain as a reult. The 2021 rupture may have been encouraged by the 2010 event due to stress transfer. Although it struck west of the 2010 rupture, a large "

seismic gap A seismic gap is a segment of an active fault known to produce significant earthquakes that has not slipped in an unusually long time, compared with other segments along the same structure. There is a hypothesis or theory that states that over long ...

" exists between the two events. It is thought that stresses on that section are still insufficient to trigger an

earthquake rupture In seismology, an earthquake rupture is the extent of slip that occurs during an earthquake in the Earth's crust. Earthquakes occur for many reasons that include: landslides, movement of magma in a volcano, the formation of a new fault, or, most ...

Intensity

According to the

U.S. Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, and ...

PAGER A pager (also known as a beeper or bleeper) is a wireless telecommunications device that receives and displays alphanumeric or voice messages. One-way pagers can only receive messages, while response pagers and two-way pagers can also acknow ...

service, the

Modified Mercalli intensity scale The Modified Mercalli intensity scale (MM, MMI, or MCS), developed from Giuseppe Mercalli's Mercalli intensity scale of 1902, is a seismic intensity scale used for measuring the intensity of shaking produced by an earthquake. It measures the eff ...

(MMI) of the earthquake reached VIII (''Severe'') in

Les Cayes Les Cayes ( , ), often referred to as Aux Cayes (; ht, Okay), is a commune and seaport in the Les Cayes Arrondissement, in the Sud department of Haiti, with a population of 71,236. Due to its isolation from the political turmoil of the capital, ...

and MMI V (''Moderate'') in

. The

epicenter The epicenter, epicentre () or epicentrum in seismology is the point on the Earth's surface directly above a hypocenter or focus, the point where an earthquake or an underground explosion originates. Surface damage Before the instrumental pe ...

of the 2010 quake was much closer to Port-au-Prince (25 km), and its MMI rating was VII (''Very strong''). The earthquake was also felt in

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

, where the intensity reached MMI IV (''Light'') in Kingston.

Aftershocks

At least 900 aftershocks have been recorded following the

mainshock In seismology, the mainshock is the largest earthquake in a sequence, sometimes preceded by one or more foreshocks, and almost always followed by many aftershocks. Foreshock A foreshock is an earthquake that occurs before a larger seismic eve ...

, the strongest being 5.8 in magnitude and centered approximately 65 kilometers further west on the

. Fresh tremors shook Les Cayes city on August 19, 2021.

2022 aftershocks

On January 24, 2022, the same region was struck by two aftershocks, measuring 5.3 and 5.1 respectively. The aftershocks killed two people; one from a landslide in

Fonds-des-Nègres Fonds-des-Nègres ( ht, Fondènèg) is a commune in the Miragoâne Arrondissement, in the Nippes department of Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country locate ...

, and the other in

Anse-à-Veau Anse-à-Veau ( ht, Ansavo) is a commune in the Anse-à-Veau Arrondissement, in the Nippes department of Haiti. The postal code is HT 7510. In the aftermath of the 2010 Haiti earthquake, Anse-a-Veau was swollen by refugees from the afflicted are ...

by a collapsing wall. 52 people were also injured. At least 191 houses were destroyed and 600 suffered damage in

Nippes Nippes ( French) or Nip (Haitian Creole) is one of the ten departments (the highest-level political subdivisions) of Haiti located in southern Haiti. It is the most recently created department, having been split from Grand'Anse in 2003. The ...

Tsunami

Widespread tsunami warnings were issued throughout the Caribbean, with waves up to 3 to 10 feet (1-3 metres) high estimated to hit

Port au Prince Port-au-Prince ( , ; ht, Pòtoprens ) is the capital and most populous city of Haiti. The city's population was estimated at 987,311 in 2015 with the metropolitan area estimated at a population of 2,618,894. The metropolitan area is defin ...

. The tsunami warning was later rescinded. The tsunami only reached just in height in that location. There were unconfirmed reports, pictures and videos of a tsunami, around high, flooding the streets of

Damage

The city of Les Cayes, Haiti's third-largest city, was the closest to the

of the earthquake. The city suffered extensive damage including many collapsed homes, places of worship, and commercial buildings. According to the Haitian Civil Protection Agency, at least 37,300 or more homes were destroyed and 46,000 others were damaged as of August 16. The Haitian Civil Protection General Directorate later reported that more than 60,700 homes have been destroyed and 76,100 others have sustained damages as of August 18. There were also a number of hotels that were severely damaged or collapsed. At least 53 medical facilities suffered partial damage while six were totally destroyed. In addition to that, the quake damaged or destroyed 1,060 schools. A report published by the

Inter-American Development Bank The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB or IADB) is an international financial institution headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States of America, and serving as the largest source of development financing for Latin America and the Caribb ...

estimated the total losses at US$ 1.6 billion, or 9.6% of Haiti's

gross domestic product Gross domestic product (GDP) is a money, monetary Measurement in economics, measure of the market value of all the final goods and services produced and sold (not resold) in a specific time period by countries. Due to its complex and subjec ...

(GDP). The report stated that the estimate was based on a fatality figure of 2,500. The total damage cost range from US$ 1.5 to 1.7 billion.

Places of worship

The Immaculee Conception Church of

Les Anglais Les Anglais ( ht, Zanglè), French for "The English", is a commune in the Chardonnières Arrondissement, in the Sud department of Haiti. It has 27,182 inhabitants. The eye of Hurricane Matthew made landfall near Les Anglais on 4 October ...

, a historical landmark constructed in 1907, collapsed when the quake struck during a

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementar ...

. The collapse of the facade of the church killed 17 people. Two individuals trapped under the rubble were rescued by nearby construction workers. At Toirac village, just outside Les Cayes, 20 people died in the collapse of the St. Famille du Toirac church during a funeral Mass. In Marceline, a small town 30 minutes away from Les Cayes, the main Catholic church collapsed. Two women cleaning the church were killed. In the Les Cay Diocese, more than 220 Catholic places of worship were destroyed.

Casualties

Haitian prime minister

Ariel Henry Ariel Henry (; born 6 November 1949) is a Haitian neurosurgeon and politician who has served as the acting prime minister of Haiti and the acting president of Haiti since 20 July 2021. He later became involved in a controversy due to his refusa ...

declared a state of emergency due to the high number of casualties and the severe damage. At least 2,248 people died in the earthquake, including two in Nord-Ouest. The Hôtel Le Manguier in Les Cayes collapsed in the earthquake, killing several people, including Gabriel Fortuné, the former senator and former mayor of Les Cayes. Portions of the Catholic bishop's residence in Les Cayes collapsed, killing a priest and two employees and injuring Cardinal Chibly Langlois. In addition to the deaths, at least 12,763 people have been injured and 329 are still missing. A report published by

on 30 August 2021 stated that at least 800,000 people, 250,000 of them children, had been affected by the quake and are in need of humanitarian aid. An estimated 81,000 Haitians have no access to safe drinking water. The

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

in Haiti said 650,000 Haitians are in need of humanitarian aid, and the

World Food Programme The World Food Programme; it, Programma alimentare mondiale; es, Programa Mundial de Alimentos; ar, برنامج الأغذية العالمي, translit=barnamaj al'aghdhiat alealami; russian: Всемирная продовольствен� ...

stated that 754,200 are experiencing

food insecurity Food security speaks to the availability of food in a country (or geography) and the ability of individuals within that country (geography) to access, afford, and source adequate foodstuffs. According to the United Nations' Committee on World F ...

. According to the United Nations, Haiti needs more than $187 million of aid to support Haiti after the disaster.

Aftermath

Search and rescue teams of Haitian police and Haitian health department workers were joined by volunteers. Foreign charities, nongovernmental organizations, and other volunteer groups sent workers, supplies, and equipment to help in the recovery and search and rescue. On August 23, rescue workers found 24 people, 20 adults, and four children, alive under the rubble of a collapsed building near the mountain

Pic Macaya Pic Macaya (Macaya Peak) is the second-highest mountain in Haiti (after Pic la Selle), rising to an elevation of above sea level. It is located in the Massif de la Hotte, northwest of Les Cayes and west of Port-au-Prince. The mountain is lo ...

. The survivors were then transported to

Camp-Perrin Camp-Perrin ( ht, Kanperen) is a commune in the Les Cayes Arrondissement, in the Sud department of Haiti. It has 40,962 inhabitants. History The city of Camp-Perrin was created during the eighteenth century when three Frenchmen (Colon de Fra ...

, where they received further treatment for their injuries. Just a few days before, on August 17, 16 people were rescued from a former United Nations occupied building in Les Cayes. Rescuers also recovered nine bodies from the building. The United Nations requested over $180 million to aid in recovery efforts related to providing basic living assistance to victims and the surrounding area. Due to the destruction of critical markets and agriculture, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Administration requested $20 million to aid in recovering farming practices. Grand'Anse, Nippes, and Sudd have been cited as being the most negatively impacted by food loss and scarcity. Shelter has been cited as the greatest need of the affected region. More than 50,000 homes and shelters were destroyed. Haitian people are sleeping in homes missing roofs and walls, open fields, and public buildings. The earthquake also said to have triggered a surge in violent crimes in Haiti. The earthquake is also said to have triggered additional burden on working women and caused a temporary setback in their career progressions.

Hurricane Grace

Rescue efforts were hindered due to rain from Tropical Depression Grace on 16 August. The

National Hurricane Center The National Hurricane Center (NHC) is the division of the United States' NOAA/National Weather Service responsible for tracking and predicting tropical weather systems between the Prime Meridian and the 140th meridian west poleward to the 3 ...

forecasted Tropical Depression Grace to produce up to of rainfall in Haiti, threatening rescue and recovery efforts in the affected area. Torrential rain and flood brought by the storm threatened the affected area with the potential for mudslides. As a direct result, many villages were left disconnected so the villagers started voluntary rebuilding efforts. The trust towards the government is low in the areas as the citizens do not expect help due to the great complications, further mobilizing the voluntary project.

Response

National

According to Prime Minister and acting President Ariel Henry, local hospitals have been overrun by the large inflow of injured victims after the earthquake. Henry declared a month-long state of emergency for the country after the quake.

International

* : Foreign Minister

Felipe Solá Felipe Solá (born 23 July 1950) is an Argentine agricultural engineer and politician. He previously served as Governor of Buenos Aires Province, from 2002 to 2007, and as Minister of Foreign Affairs and Worship under President Alberto Fernánd ...

ordered the deployment of

White Helmets Commission The White Helmets Commission ( es, Comisión de Cascos Blancos) is a body of the Argentine Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Worship in charge of designing and implementing international humanitarian assistance. It has a networ ...

to the area to assist local authorities in humanitarian missions. Solá further stated that Argentina is willing to deploy more personnel in rescue missions. * :

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Justin Trudeau Justin Pierre James Trudeau ( , ; born December 25, 1971) is a Canadian politician who is the 23rd and current prime minister of Canada. He has served as the prime minister of Canada since 2015 and as the leader of the Liberal Party since 2 ...

said that the nation is "ready to assist in any way" in the wake of the event. A travel advisory was issued against traveling to Haiti by the

Canadian government The government of Canada (french: gouvernement du Canada) is the body responsible for the federal administration of Canada. A constitutional monarchy, the Crown is the corporation sole, assuming distinct roles: the executive, as the ''Crown-in-C ...

. * : The

Mexican government The Federal government of Mexico (alternately known as the Government of the Republic or ' or ') is the national government of the United Mexican States, the central government established by its constitution to share sovereignty over the republi ...

sent a

C-295 The CASA C-295 (now Airbus C295) is a medium tactical transport aircraft that was designed and initially manufactured by the Spain, Spanish aerospace company CASA (aircraft manufacturer), CASA. Work on what would become the C-295 was started d ...

and a

C-130 The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is an American four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft designed and built by Lockheed (now Lockheed Martin). Capable of using unprepared runways for takeoffs and landings, the C-130 was originally desig ...

from the

Mexican Air Force The Mexican Air Force (FAM; es, Fuerza Aérea Mexicana) is the primary aerial warfare service branch of the Mexican Armed Forces. It is a component of the Mexican Army and depends on the National Defense Secretariat (SEDENA). The objective of t ...

, loading 15,400 kg (33,069.3 lb) of medicine and supplies for the people affected. On August 16, three aircraft from Mexico's

Secretariat of National Defense The Mexican Secretariat of National Defense (SEDENA); es, Secretaría de la Defensa Nacional is the government department responsible for managing Mexico's Army and Air Forces. Its head is the Secretary of National Defense who, like the co-equal ...

and Navy arrived in Haiti, carrying aid. The first two aircraft which arrived transported food supplies, sanitation items, and medical supplies. Additional food and survival items arrived on the third aircraft. Rescue and recovery equipment such as forklifts, water filtration devices, lamps, blankets and shovels were also sent to Haiti. * : The UN requested to the Brazilian government, the deployment to Haiti of Brazilian forces of the

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

and

Marine Corps Marines, or naval infantry, are typically a military force trained to operate in littoral zones in support of naval operations. Historically, tasks undertaken by marines have included helping maintain discipline and order aboard the ship (refle ...

, in order to secure the stability in the face of ongoing humanitarian crisis. The request was confirmed by President

Jair Bolsonaro Jair Messias Bolsonaro (; born 21 March 1955) is a Brazilian politician and retired military officer who has been the 38th president of Brazil since 1 January 2019. He was elected in 2018 as a member of the Social Liberal Party, which he turn ...

. The

Brazilian Armed Forces The Brazilian Armed Forces ( pt, Forças Armadas Brasileiras, ) are the unified military forces of the Federative Republic of Brazil. Consisting of three service branches, it comprises the Brazilian Army (including the Brazilian Army Aviatio ...

also participated in the

United Nations Stabilisation Mission in Haiti ) , leader_title = Head , leader_name = Sandra Honoré (Special Representative of the Secretary-General) , status = Replaced by MINUJUSTH , formation = 1 June 2004 , websiteUN Peacekeeping: MINUSTAH

(MINUSTAH) between 2004 and 2017. * :

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Joe Biden authorized the US response for assistance in the aftermath of the earthquake, appointing

Administrator

Samantha Power Samantha Jane Power (born September 21, 1970) is an American journalist, diplomat and government official who is currently serving as the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development. She previously served as the 28th ...

to coordinate in the relief. The

United States Agency for International Development The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government that is primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance. With a budget of over $27 bi ...

(USAID) said on August 26 that US $32 million worth of aid would be provided to Haiti to support the ongoing relief efforts. The money would be used to deliver immediate needs such as medical services, food, shelter, drinking water, and sanitary items. Additionally, Mexico, Peru, Argentina, Chile and Venezuela have offered assistance in the search for survivors. A group of 34 firefighters from Ecuador were dispatched to assist in search and rescue efforts. Japanese professional

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

player

Naomi Osaka is a Japanese professional tennis player. She has been ranked world No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) and is the first Asian player to hold the top ranking in singles. Osaka is a four-time Grand Slam singles champio ...

, who is of Haitian descent, stated in a tweet that she would donate all her prize money at the

Cincinnati Masters The Cincinnati Masters or Cincinnati Open (branded as the Western & Southern Open for sponsorship reasons) is an annual outdoor hardcourt tennis event held in Mason, Ohio near Cincinnati. The event started on September 18, 1899, and is the olde ...

to support rescue and recovery efforts ongoing in Haiti. American sportswear brand

Skechers Skechers USA, Inc. is an American multinational footwear company. Headquartered in Manhattan Beach, California, it was founded in 1992 and is now the third largest footwear brand in the United States. History Skechers was founded in 1992 by Ro ...

announced on August 19 that they would be contributing US $1 million in donations to support ongoing rescue and recovery efforts. The brand said they would be donating to three organizations; CORE (Community Organized Relief Effort), Hope for Haiti and

World Central Kitchen World Central Kitchen (WCK) is a not-for-profit non-governmental organization devoted to providing meals in the wake of natural disasters. Founded in 2010 by chef José Andrés, the organization prepared food in Haiti following its devastati ...

. Kenneth Cole is donating a percentage of their net sales to the St. Luke Foundation and asking their customers to donate $10 for extra support. Amazon has sent over 35,000 emergency items to Haiti: including medical supplies, tents, water filters and more.

Political and humanitarian concerns

Moïse assassination and current government

President

Jovenel Moïse Jovenel Moïse (; ; 26 June 1968 – 7 July 2021) was a Haitian entrepreneur and politician, who served as the 43rd President of Haiti from 2017 until his assassination in 2021. He was sworn in as president in February 2017 after winning the ...

was assassinated in his home on July 7, 2021. Forty four people were arrested in connection to the assassination and Moïse's death left Haiti in political turmoil. The official presidential election date is set for November 7, 2021. Acting president Ariel Henry said that the country must appoint a new electoral board and deal with the increasing gang violence and looting. The lack of a strong government results in unorganized aid distribution and more room for gang violence and looting.

Gang violence and looting

Gangs have overtaken neighborhoods and villages in Haiti. "According to the National Human Rights Defense Network, there are more than 90 gangs in the country, likely with thousands of members and far more powerful than the police," Bloomberg reports. Gangs have control over major roads heading south. In mid-August, the gang announced a ceasefire to allow trucks to use the road to provide aid to southern communities. Several trucks were looted at gunpoint, despite the truce. On August 19, two of Haiti's doctors, including one of the few orthopedic surgeons, were kidnapped. It is unclear whether gangs were responsible for these abductions; however kidnapping is a common gang practice. The kidnappers contacted the doctor's families, however the ransom demands are unknown.

Gallery

File:Haiti Earthquake 1.jpg , A destroyed building. File:Haiti Earthquake 3.jpg , Destruction across the street. File:Haiti Earthquake 6.webp , Exterior damage. File:Haiti Earthquake 9.jpg, Damage to a building. Rubble strewn all over.

References

External links

*
Live Update: 7.2 magnitude earthquake hits near Haiti
''CNN'' * {{DEFAULTSORT:Haiti earthquake, 2021 2021 disasters in North America 2021 earthquakes

August 2021 events in North America

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

Earthquakes in the Caribbean Buried rupture earthquakes