The death toll in the Haiti earthquake has risen to 724, the country's authorities announced on Sunday. The 7.2-magnitude earthquake flattened hundreds of homes in the impoverished country and left nearly 3,000 people injured.
The epicentre of the quake was about 125 kilometres (78 miles) west of the capital of Port-au-Prince, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS).
The Caribbean country was hit by a second earthquake late on Saturday, with its magnitude estimated to be 5.9. The tremor's epicentre was located 41 kilometres (25 miles) northwest of the southern city of Les Cayes at a depth of 30 kilometres, the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) said.
On Saturday, Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry said aid was being rushed to areas where towns were destroyed and hospitals overwhelmed with patients.
The search for survivors continues.
The new tremor hit some 31km (19 miles) north of the city of Jeremie in Haiti's westernmost Grand'Anse department on Sunday morning, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) reported.
The USGS put the quake’s depth at 12km.
While the USGS predicted that some casualties may result from the new quake, and that it could require “a local or regional level response,” the potential impact is expected to be "relatively localized."
The aftershock comes just a day after the Caribbean nation was shaken by a disastrous 7.2-magnitude quake that leveled homes across Haiti’s southern peninsula, cluttering roads with debris strewn all over the ground.
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