New 6.1-quake hits Haiti

PORT-AU-PRINCE – A powerful new earthquake struck Haiti yesterday, shaking rubble from damaged buildings and sending screaming people running into the streets only eight days after the country’s capital was devastated by an apocalyptic quake.

The magnitude-6.1 temblor was the largest aftershock yet to the January 12 quake. The extent of additional damage or injuries was not immediately clear.Wails of terror rose from frightened survivors as the earth shuddered at 06h03 US and soldiers and tent city refugees alike raced for open ground, and clouds of dust rose in the capital.The US Geological Survey said the quake was centred about 56 kilometres northwest of Port-au-Prince and was 22 kilometres below the surface.Last week’s magnitude-7 quake killed an estimated 200,000 people in Haiti, left 250 000 injured and made 1,5 million homeless, according to the European Union Commission.A massive international aid effort has been struggling with logistical problems, and many Haitians are still desperate for food and water.Still, search-and-rescue teams have emerged from the ruins with some improbable success stories – including the rescue of 69-year-old ardent Roman Catholic who said she prayed constantly during her week under the rubble.Ena Zizi had been at a church meeting at the residence of Haiti’s Roman Catholic archbishop when the January 12 quake struck, trapping her in debris. On Tuesday, she was rescued by a Mexican disaster team.Zizi said after the quake, she spoke back and forth with a vicar who also was trapped. But he fell silent after a few days, and she spent the rest of the time praying and waiting.’I talked only to my boss, God,’ she said. ‘I didn’t need any more humans.’Doctors who examined Zizi on Tuesday said she was dehydrated and had a dislocated hip and a broken leg.Elsewhere in the capital, two women were pulled from a destroyed university building. And near midnight on Tuesday, a smiling and singing 26-year-old Lozama Hotteline was carried to safety from a collapsed store in the Petionville neighborhood by the French aid group Rescuers Without Borders.Crews at the cathedral recovered the body of the archbishop, Monsignor Joseph Serge Miot, who was killed in the January 12 quake.Authorities said close to 100 people had been pulled from wrecked buildings by international search-and-rescue teams. Efforts continued, with dozens of teams hunting through Port-au-Prince’s crumbled homes and buildings for signs of life.But the good news was overshadowed by the frustrating fact that the world still can’t get enough food and water to the hungry and thirsty.’We need so much. Food, clothes, we need everything. I don’t know whose responsibility it is, but they need to give us something soon,’ said Sophia Eltime, a 29-year-old mother of two who has been living under a bedsheet with seven members of her extended family. – Nampa-AP