A pair of brief but relatively strong aftershocks rocked the devastated Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince on Friday, 10 days after a catastrophic earthquake demolished much of the city.
Some residents ran in panic from concrete buildings, fearing a repeat of the collapses that last week killed at least 75 000 people and left more than a million homeless living in streets, parks and makeshift tented encampments.
Others are now accustomed to the tremors, which still strike every day, and most residents remained concentrated on the struggle to survive and rebuild a semblance of normal economic and social life amid the ruins.
“I’m not really used to it yet, but I’m starting to be less scared,” said 23-year-old student Naomi Renouard. “I ran like I usually do. I think that it’s God punishing us for our sins, to show us a better way.”
Meanwhile, international rescue teams remained deployed around the city in the increasingly faint hope of finding more survivors amid the rubble, and US troops and UN agencies distributed humanitarian aid. — AFP