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Death toll from earthquake rises to 227 in Haiti

Hundreds have been reported injured and missing in the Sud Department

© AP Photo/Joseph Odelyn

HAVANA, August 15. /TASS/. The death toll from the earthquake that rocked Haiti on Saturday has risen to 227, the Haitian Civil Protection Agency (DPC) said.

"The death toll from the earthquake has risen to 227," the agency wrote on Twitter. "Hundreds have been reported injured and missing in the Sud Department. First operations conducted by rescuers and citizens helped to pull out lots of people from under the rubble. Hospitals keep admitting the injured."

Twenty-nine deaths had been reported earlier.

On Saturday morning, a 7.2 magnitude earthquake hit near Haiti. The earthquake struck 40 kilometers from the southern city of Les Cayes, with a population of 125,000 people, and was 10 kilometers deep. Later the Dominican newspaper Listin Diario reported about an aftershock measuring a magnitude of 5.2. The government declared a month-long state of emergency.

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