Haiti Quake Death Toll Rises to 1,419, Injured Now At 6,000
Injured patients rest at a hospital in Les Cayes, Haiti after a 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck the southwest peninsula of the country on August 15th
Photographer: Reginald Louissaint JR/AFP/ Getty ImagesLes Cayes, Haiti (AP) -- A hospital in southwestern Haiti, where a powerful earthquake flattened homes, shops and other buildings over the weekend, was so overwhelmed with patients that many had to lie in patios, corridors, verandas and hallways. Then the approach of a storm expected to drench the quake zone Monday night forced officials to relocate them as best they could given the hospital’s poor conditions.
Even those patients were somewhat fortunate. Haiti’s Civil Protection Agency on Monday raised the death toll from Saturday’s earthquake to 1,419 and the number of injured to 6,000, many of whom have had to wait under the burning heat, even on an airport tarmac, for help.