08/14/2021 10:54 AM
Clarín.com
World
Updated 08/14/2021 11:08 AM
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) issued a tsunami warning on Saturday after a 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck Haiti.
The earthquake was felt in the south of the country and material damage has already been recorded in the cities of
Jérémie and Los Cayos
, on the southwest peninsula of the island of Hispaniola, which it shares with the Dominican Republic.
The earthquake, which occurred at 8:30 am (9:30 am in Argentina), occurred about 12 kilometers from the town of Saint-Louis du Sud, and its hypocenter was 10 kilometers deep, according to the USGS report.
The institute also issued a red alert on the possibility that the earthquake has left a large number of victims, the Europa Press news agency said.
"Tsunami waves that can reach 1 or 3 meters above the tide level are possible on some coasts of Haiti," indicated the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA, without specifying specific areas of the country.
Minutes after the earthquake,
an aftershock of magnitude 5.2
was recorded
17 kilometers from the town of Chantal
, again with a hypocenter 10 kilometers deep.
According to the local Gazette Haiti portal, the earthquake was felt for several seconds in the capital of the Caribbean country, Port-au-Prince, which is about 130 kilometers from the epicenter.
On January 12, 2010, a magnitude 7 earthquake devastated the Haitian capital and several provincial cities.
More than 200,000 people died and more than 300,000 were injured in the catastrophe, which left 1.5 million people homeless.
With information from AFP.
News in development.
LGP