By Mark Stevenson and Evens Sanon - AP
Rescuers and scrap metal collectors worked tirelessly this Monday trying to find survivors in the rubble of a hotel that collapsed on Saturday, after the powerful earthquake that hit the south of the country: a total of 15 bodies have been extracted from the place.
Jean Moise Fortunè, brother of the hotel owner who died as a result of the earthquake, believes that more people are trapped there.
But based on the spaces that remained between the concrete,
the hope of finding survivors is increasingly slim.
The strong earthquake, whose epicenter was 80 miles (125 kilometers) west of the capital Port-au-Prince,
has killed at least 1,419 people.
Some 6,000 were injured.
The number of victims has not stopped increasing since what happened.
An injured woman is transferred this Monday to the hospital in Les Cayes, Haiti.Matias Delacroix / AP
Some areas were completely devastated, as
the aftershocks have caused landslides that complicate the already complex rescue efforts in the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.
[Haiti faces a lack of medicines and resources to search for victims under the rubble]
Haiti was already grappling with the coronavirus pandemic, gang violence, worsening poverty and political instability following the assassination of President Ovenel Moïse on July 7.
In video: This is how they rescued several Haitians trapped under the rubble after the earthquake this Saturday
Aug. 14, 202100: 53
And soon the devastation could get even worse:
Tropical depression Grace is expected to bring its winds and heavy rains to the battered island this Monday night
.
Estimates indicate that up to 15 inches of water can fall in some areas, according to the Civil Protection agency.
[Thousands injured and hundreds killed after the powerful earthquake that shook Haiti]
"
States working to ensure that the resources we obtain go to the areas that need them most," said the head of that agency, Jerry Chandler, referring to the province of Les Cayes, Jeremie and Nippe, the most southwestern portion of the country.
"After two days, almost everyone's wounds are infected"
As gas, money and jobs ran out, desperate residents of Les Cayes scoured the collapsed houses for metal that they could sell.
Others expected money to be sent from abroad, a key pillar long before this latest earthquake.
A woman carries her son as she walks through her destroyed home in Les Cayes this Sunday.Joseph Odelyn / AP
Anthony Emile waited six hours in line with dozens of people trying to get the money his brother sent him from Chile.
"We have been waiting since morning, but there are too many people,"
said Emile, a banana farmer who explained that his relatives who live in more rural areas depend on him to give them money to survive.
[Two Haitian-Americans and 13 Colombians are arrested for the assassination of the President of Haiti]
Wounded earthquake victims continued to arrive at Les Cayes General Hospital, which is overcrowded.
"After two days, almost everyone's wounds are infected," said Dr. Paurus Michelete, who
has treated at least 250 patients and was one of only three doctors when the quake struck.
The 7.2 magnitude earthquake has left thousands of displaced people: people whose houses were destroyed or damaged, who are now sleeping in the middle of the street for fear of the aftershocks that do not stop.