Devastates Haiti

Earthquake

devastates Haiti

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) -- Haitians piled bodies along the devastated streets of their capital Wednesday after a powerful earthquake crushed thousands of structures, It seemed clear that the death toll from Tuesday afternoon's magnitude-7.0 quake would run into the thousands. International Red Cross spokesman said a third of Haiti's 9 million people may need emergency aid and that it would take a day or two for a clear picture of the damage to emerge. Aftershocks continued to rattle the capital of 2 million people as women covered in dust clawed out of debris, wailing. Stunned people wandered the streets holding hands.

12.1.2010

Thousands feared dead in devastating Haiti quake

Bodies littered the streets of Haiti's devastated capital on Wednesday after a powerful

earthquake that may have killed thousands from shanty towns to

luxury hotels and even the presidential palace.

With victims pinned under debris and powerful aftershocks rattling

the country, looting broke out soon after the 7.0 magnitude

quake which spared no part of the capital Port-au-Prince, which

was close to the epicenter.

Injured residents of the crowded city poured into the streets screaming in panic with each new tremor.

Many bodies were just left in the streets or crushed under debris

Jordan reported that three of its peacekeepers were killed and 21 wounded in the quake, the most

powerful to hit the country in more than a century.

Three hurricanes and a tropical storm pounded Haiti in 2008, killing 793 people and leaving more than 300 others missing, according to government figures. Chronology :Major quakes and tsunamis

The country was also gripped by a political stand-off in 2008 amid riots over sky-rocketing food prices. UN troops are a regular sight in the country.

Seventy percent of Haiti's population lives on less than two dollars per day, and half of its 8.5 million people are unemployed.