Residents flee homes as strong earthquake felt

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (CMC):

The Civil Protection Department (DPC) Tuesday urged people to remain “vigilant” as people fled their homes late Monday night after an earthquake with a magnitude of 4.0 on the Richter scale was recorded near Croix-des-Bouquets in the West Department.

The DPC said that the quake occurred at 11:02 p.m. (local time).

“No loss of life or damage has been reported so far,” the DPC said in a statement, adding “let’s remain vigilant”.

The authorities said that the epicentre of the earthquake was located at 18.53° North latitude and 73.59° West longitude, eight km southeast of the city of Croix-des-Bouquets, 2 km northeast of Pétion-ville and 18 km east of Port-au-Prince at a depth of seven km.

DPC said that the earthquake was felt by many people in the West Department, reviving memories of 2010 and causing panic among residents of Delmas, Pétion-ville, Tabarre among others, who rushed out of their homes.

The devastating 2010 Haiti earthquake, with a magnitude of 7.0, occurred on January 12, 2010, causing immense destruction and a humanitarian crisis. It killed over 200,000 people, and displaced more than two million.