Port-au-Prince, Jan 13 (THAINDIAN NEWS) The Haiti Presidential Palace has been ruined very badly in the earthquake that struck the area yesterday. Along with the Presidential Palace a very popular hotel in the Haiti capital collapsed due to the massive earthquake. Hotel Montana collapsed and around 200 people are missing.

Thousands of people are feared dead and/or missing and the country’s presidential palace lie in ruins after the huge earthquake that struck the area. Help and volunteers are pouring in from all corners of the world to help. “A destructive widespread tsunami threat does not exist based on historical earthquake and tsunami data,” the US Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said. “However, there is the possibility of a local tsunami that could affect coasts located usually no more than a 100 km [60 miles] from the earthquake epicenter.”

The USGS reports that the epicenter was fifteen kilometers southwest of Port-au-Prince and 1,140 kilometers southeast of Miami, Florida, at a depth of ten kilometers. “Everybody is just totally, totally freaked out and shaken. The sky is just gray with dust,” said Henry Bahn, an official with the US Department of Agriculture who was visiting in Haiti and a witness to the incident. “I just held on and bounced across the wall. I just hear a tremendous amount of noise and shouting and screaming in the distance,” he commented, as quoted by the Associated Press.

The 7.0-magnitude on the Richter scale earthquake happened around 4.53 p.m. local time yesterday according to the United States Geological Survey, making it the strongest earthquake ever recorded within 200 kilometers. It struck about 10 miles southwest of the country’s capital, Port-au-Prince. The earthquake had a depth of only 10 kilometers (6.2 miles), so there is a greater chance of severe damage.

Picture: Haiti Presidential Palace - Before and after - Source