The magnitude 7.2 earthquake quake struck 8 kilometers (5 miles) from the town of Petit Trou de Nippes, about 150 km west of the capital Port-au-Prince, at a depth of 10 km, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said.
The European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) also reported a quake in the region, saying it was magnitude 7.6, while Cuba’s seismological center said it registered a magnitude of 7.4, reports Reuters.
Because of the earthquake’s shallow depth, this makes the earthquake bigger and shallower than the magnitude 7 earthquake that struck Haiti 11 years ago, killing tens if not hundreds of thousands of people, flattening buildings, and leaving many homeless, according to the USGS, reports CNN News.
A tsunami threat was issued for the region, the US Tsunami Warning System reported. Waves as high as 3 meters (about 10 feet) above the tide level are possible along some of the country’s coast.
While there were no official reports yet in Haiti of injuries or deaths, images posted on social media – which Reuters was not immediately able to verify – showed homes and part of a church in the nearby town of Jeremie reduced to rubble.
Naomi Verneus, a 34-year-old resident of Port-au-Prince, said she was jolted awake by the earthquake and that her bed was shaking, per the Associated Press.
“I woke up and didn’t have time to put my shoes on. We lived the 2010 earthquake and all I could do was run. I later remembered my two kids and my mother were still inside. My neighbor went in and told them to get out. We ran to the street,” Verneus said.
Additionally, Haiti is in the cone of Tropical Storm Grace, which is expected to impact the area from Monday into Tuesday, CNN meteorologist Haley Brink said.
