Cuban Doctors Helping Injured in Haiti after Earthquake

HAVANA TIMES – After a devastating 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck southwestern Haiti on  Saturday morning, Cuban doctors already working in the country are assisting the injured, reports the Cubadebate website.

With the death toll already reaching 304 and rising, the new Prime Minister Ariel Henry instituted a state of emergency for the western department of Nippes and Grand’Anse to the south, reported CNN.

“When it comes to medical needs, this is our biggest urgency. We have started to send medications and medical personnel to the facilities that are affected,” Henry said.

“We have sent more personnel to help out,” he said. “For the people who need urgent special care, we have evacuated a certain number of them, and we will evacuate some more today and tomorrow.”

At least 1,800 people were injured, according to the Haiti’s civil protection service.

“The first interventions, carried out by both professional rescuers and members of the population, have helped remove many people from under the rubble,” the Haitian civil protection service said on Twitter. “The hospitals continue to receive injured people.”

The report from Cubadebate says that the personal of the Cuban medical mission in the affected part of Haiti are well and are already assisting those in need.

The 7.2-magnitude quake, was centered 5 miles (8 kms) from the town of Petit Trou de Nippes, just over 90 miles (150 kilometers) west of the capital Port-au-Prince, at a depth of 10 km, the United States Geological Survey said.

The powerful earthquake was felt in some eastern provinces of Cuba as well as in Jamaica. In Port-au-Prince, it was strongly felt but did not appear to have caused major damage, witnesses intially told Reuters.

Read more from Cuba here on Havana Times.