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A desperate search for survivors is underway following the devastating earthquake in Haiti, bringing additional hardships to this impoverished Caribbean country.
The epicenter of the 7.2-magnitude quake was in the west of the country, about 125 kilometers from the capital Port-au-Prince. The death toll is in the hundreds with several thousand injured and many more left homeless.
"I was leaving my business normally when I felt the movement while I was walking," said local resident Fatal Jean Odesse.
"I looked in front of me and I felt the earth was moving, I saw that everything was falling, when I got home I realized the extent of the damage."
A hotel in Les Cayes, one of the worst-hit cities, had more guests than usual due to a religious festival.
Rescue workers pushed crowds back as they struggled to retrieve the body of a seven-year-old girl, with her mother left distraught.
Rescue efforts are hampered by landslides which have blocked the roads to Les Cayes and another badly-hit town Jeremie, where thousands took to the streets for fear of further aftershocks. Churches, business and homes have all been damaged.
People look for survivors at a house destroyed by a 7.2-magnitude earthquake in Les Cayes, Haiti. /Ralph Tedy Erol/Reuters
The government has declared a month-long state of emergency in all the affected areas in a bid to reach victims and get aid in.
"We have declared a state of emergency in the West, the South, Nippes, and the province of Grand'Anse. We have a medical emergency. The Health Ministry started the distribution of medicines in hospitals," said Prime Minister Ariel Henry.
Hospitals in the region are said to be overflowing with casualties and running short of medical supplies.
One former senator hired a private plane to transport some of the victims in need of medical treatment to hospitals elsewhere in the country.
This latest disaster comes with Haiti still struggling to recover from the devastating earthquake in 2010, which killed more than 200,000 people and left more than a million homeless.
