MAPS! Here again are map of the earthquake felt in the Dominican Republic today. The earthquake felt from Dominican Republic to Bahamas was centered near Port-Au-Prince, Haiti. Countless buildings are gone, the death toll rising, government buildings destroyed.

Reuters reporter Joseph Guyler Delva said the scene was chaos:

The national director of World Vision in Haiti, Frank Williams, issued the following statement:

“People are screaming all around and walls from buildings and private residences have fallen into the streets, so that has pretty much blocked off most of the traffic.

“We have some aftershocks that we’ve experienced… people are wailing… [are] very frightened. Most of the people are out on the streets.”

Haiti’s US ambassador describes houses just falling right and left everywhere.

The presidential palace in Port-Au-Prince is destroyed. A reporter tells viewers:

“The presidential palace, the finance ministry, the ministry of public works, the ministry of communication and culture are destroyed”.

A tsunami alert has since been canceled.

Haiti Earthquake Maps
Haiti Earthquake Map 1
Haiti Earthquake Map 2
Haiti Earthquake Map 3

“People were screaming ‘Jesus, Jesus’ and running in all directions.”

USGS reports the quake struck just before 5 PM today. Data is as follows:

7.0
Date-Time

* Tuesday, January 12, 2010 at 21:53:09 UTC
* Tuesday, January 12, 2010 at 04:53:09 PM at epicenter
* Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location 18.451°N, 72.445°W
Depth 10 km (6.2 miles) set by location program
Region HAITI REGION
Distances 15 km (10 miles) SW of PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti
140 km (90 miles) E of Les Cayes, Haiti
145 km (90 miles) WNW of Barahona, Dominican Republic
1140 km (710 miles) SE of Miami, Florida
Location Uncertainty horizontal +/- 8.3 km (5.2 miles); depth fixed by location program

Still developing …

For continuing coverage of Haiti Earthquake Today on LALATE click here: http://news.lalate.com/category/earthqauke.