Haiti earthquake death toll rises to 1,297 as country braces for tropical storm Grace

Rescuers are desperately searching ruined building for survivors

Moment woman and child rescued from rubble after Haiti quake

The death toll from a devastating earthquake that rocked Haiti has risen to 1,297, officials have said as rescuers desperately search through the rubble of destroyed buildings for survivors.

Thousands more people are injured and displaced from their homes after the magnitude 7.2 quake struck on Saturday.

Hospitals in the Caribbean country are buckling under huge patient numbers while aid workers struggle to get supplies to the worst affected areas.

"There has been nothing. No help, nothing from the government," Jennie Auguste, a resident of the southwestern part of the country said.

Rescue and aid efforts could be hampered by a tropical depression sweeping the Caribbean. Storm Grace has already hit the Dominican Republic and is expected to reach Haiti on Monday and Tuesday, with rain and wind speeds of 40-50mph.

The civil protection agency said Haitians must expect strong winds, heavy rain, rough seas, landslides and flooding.

• Haiti death toll rises to nearly 1,300 after 7.2 magnitude earthquake
• Stars including tennis player Naomi Osaka make appeals for earthquake relief
• Why Haiti is prone to devastating earthquakes
• Haiti earthquake crisis: How to donate to help relief efforts from the UK

Key Points

• Tropical storm expected today
• Death toll rises to 1,297
• Rescuers desperate search through rubble for survivors
• Key facts

[16 August 2021 12:30 · Matt Mathers]

PM declares one-month emergency

Prime Minister Ariel Henry has declared a one-month state of emergency for the whole country and said that first aid convoys organized by the government had started moving help to areas where towns were destroyed and hospitals were overwhelmed. “We salute the dignity, the resilience effort of the victims and their ability to start over,” Henry told reporters.

“From my observations, I deduce that Haitians want to live and progress. Let us unite to offer these people a living environment conducive to development.”

[16 August 2021 12:50 · Matt Mathers]

Humanitarian needs are acute, Unicef says

UNICEF executive director Henrietta Fore says humanitarian needs are acute, with many Haitians urgently needing health care, clean water and shelter. Children who have been separated from parents need protection, she said. Alluding to the 2010 earthquake that ravaged Hait’s capital, killing tens of thousands, Fore said: “Little more than a decade on, Haiti is reeling once again.

And this disaster coincides with political instability, rising gang violence, alarmingly high rates of malnutrition among children, and the COVID-19 pandemic — for which Haiti has received just 500,000 vaccine doses, despite requiring far more.”

[16 August 2021 13:05 · Matt Mathers]

Medical workers scramble to hospitals

Medical workers from across Haiti were scrambling to help as hospitals in Les Cayes started running out of space to perform surgeries. “Basically, they need everything,” said Dr Inobert Pierre, a paediatrician with the nonprofit Health Equity International, which oversees St Boniface Hospital, about two hours from Les Cayes. “Many of the patients have open wounds and they have been exposed to not-so-clean elements,” added Pierre, who visited two hospitals in Les Cayes — one with some 200 patients, the other with around 90. “We anticipate a lot of infections.” Pierre’s medical team was taking some patients to St. Boniface to undergo surgery, but with just two ambulances, they could transport only four at a time.

[16 August 2021 13:24 · Matt Mathers]

‘Serious’ issues with hospitals

Hospitals in Haiti are facing “serious” issues as they try to treat thousands of people injured in the earthquake, an official has said.

Jerry Chandler, the head of Haiti’s civil protection agency, said: “We do have a serious issue.

“There are very important facilities that are dysfunctional as we speak and those that are functional are receiving an overflow of patients.”

[16 August 2021 13:44 · Matt Mathers]

How to donate to the relief effort from the UK

ActionAid is one of a number of organisations responding to the humanitarian crisis in Haiti.

My colleague Kate Ng has more details below on how to donate:

[16 August 2021 13:57 · Matt Mathers]

Former senator flies patients to hospital in private plane

A former senator has been flying injured people to hospital.

Herve Foucand said he was using a small propeller plane to transport those most in need to Port-au-Prince, the Haitian capital.

He told the New York Times on Sunday: “I have 30 people in serious condition waiting for me.

“But I only have seven seats.”