An earthquake struck parts of western Haiti on Tuesday, killing at least three people and injuring more than 25, according to civil protection authorities.
The magnitude 4.9 quake occurred in the isolated Grandances region about 300 km west of Port-au-Prince at a depth of 10 km, according to the US Geological Survey.
“We have recorded a partial death toll of three people, members of the same family who died in the collapse of their house,” said the head of the Civil Protection Authority in Grande, Christine Monkel, told AFP on Tuesday.
Monkel’s office counted 28 wounded, she said, confirming that searches are continuing for “possible other injured.”
The earthquake comes days after violent storms struck Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, leaving 42 dead and 11 missing, according to civil protection agencies.
And the storms struck shortly after five in the morning local time (09:00 GMT) off the southwestern coast of the Caribbean country, which is often subject to devastating earthquakes.
In 2010, a violent 7.0-magnitude earthquake killed more than 200,000 people in Haiti and wreaked havoc in Port-au-Prince, displacing 1.5 million people.
In August 2021, a more powerful earthquake of magnitude 7.2 hit the peninsula, killing more than 2,200 people and destroying 130,000 homes.
