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New Earthquake Jolts Haiti


The U.S. Geological Survey says the new quake, which shook Haiti just after sunrise Wednesday, was centered about 35 miles northwest of the capital Port au Prince. It was the largest of more than 40 significant aftershocks following the January 12th quake. There have been no reports of injuries from the new quake. Meantime, relief efforts continue in the aftermath of last week's earthquake, which killed an estimated 200,000 people. VOA's Laurel Bowman has this report.

The reality was perhaps too hard to bear. Just eight days after a massive earthquake crushed Haiti, another one hit, instilling fresh fears among Haitians still reeling from the first. This man was incredulous. "I heard like a big ringing around but I didn't understand whether it was for real, understand? And afterwards people were trying to tell me that it happened again," he said.

Pictures from just after Wednesday's quake show distressed but mostly calm, survivors in shelters in the capital Port au Prince.

Nearby, tent cities have mushroomed. Those made homeless by last week's quake wait, with few necessities.

Gangs of teens prowl the camp, where up to 50,000 survivors have gathered. Some are tired of waiting. "I have got to get out of Haiti, can't stay in Haiti. If I want to protect my daughter I have to get out," one person said.

Elsewhere, doctors are struggling to treat thousands of injured with limited resources. And others are doing what they can to help, including radio broadcasters.

FM radio helps keep some Haitians up to date on how to get what they need to survive.

"Information can save lives, information is most important to provide people water, sanitation, education. At times of crisis when everything is collapsed you know, there is no, people don't know where to go," said one man

Despite some criticism of the huge U.S. presence, these troops were focused on securing Port au Prince hospitals and delivering humanitarian relief.

"Right now we have a little over two-thousand troops on the ground, another nine-thousand in the area on the ships supporting us," said Lt. Gen. Ken Keen, US Joint Task Force, Haiti

On Tuesday an important recovery by Mexican rescue workers: the body of the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Haiti, Monsignor Joseph Serge Miot, found sitting at his desk in the Catholic compound.

OSCAR OLIVA, MEXICAN RESCUE TEAM (In Spanish, English voiced over)
"Someone said that he had made a cellphone call following the quake but the monsignor was holding a pair of glasses in his right hand. He was sitting at his desk so it was very hard to get him out with all the rubble and wood around him," said Oscar Oliva, of a Mexican rescue team.

But these same rescuers scored a victory earlier Tuesday, when they rescued a 69-year-old woman from the ruins of the same compound. She had a broken leg and a dislocated hip, but later told rescuers she was fine.

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