On January 12, 2010, at 21:53 UTC, Haiti was struck by a magnitude 7.0 earthquake, the country's most severe earthquake in over 200 years. The epicenter of the quake was just off the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince, sparking a tsunami watch for parts of the Caribbean, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Widespread damage resulted from the quake, with a majority of buildings collapsing due to poor structural design. The capital city was devastated. The Presidential Palace was badly damaged, with the second floor entirely collapsing onto the first floor; the Haitan Parliment building and the National Cathedral were also destroyed. The quake had a reported magnitude of 7.0, with the focus being about 6 miles (10 km) underground, according to the USGS. A tsunami watch was posted for Haiti and parts of Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and the Bahamas, but the watch was later canceled.
The morning following the quake (January 13, 2010), Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive said, in a live interview on CNN, that he estimated the death toll of the disaster to be "hundreds of thousands of people." When re-questioned by anchor Tony Harris (because it sounded like he might have said "hundreds OR thousands"), Bellerive re-stated "more than one hundred thousand dead."
The World Bank announced that its offices in the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince collapsed, adding that it confirmed as safe "most" employees. Still, the Bank announced its readiness to mobilize a team to assess the damage and plan the "reconstruction" of the country.
The UN Building hosting the stabilization mission for Haiti (MINUSTAH) also suffered collapse, concentrating early UN rescue efforts on their own personnel. An estimated 200 UN workers are currently missing and 5 confirmed dead (January 13)
The head of the UN Mission to Haiti as well as the Catholic archbishop of Port-au-Prince, Monsignor Joseph Serge Miot, have been reported to be among the dead.
Doctors Without Borders confirmed that 3 of their aid centers were rendered inoperable because of the earthquake, leaving many injured Haitians without care. So far, no large foreign aid teams have arrived in Haiti, though some smaller ones have.
