Mild earthquake shakes Haitian capital but no major damage reported
By APMonday, May 3, 2010
Mild tremor shakes Haiti but no damage reported
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — People ran screaming from buildings Monday as a mild tremor rattled a Haitian capital still traumatized by the deadly Jan. 12 earthquake.
There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries from the latest tremor.
Preliminary data from the U.S. Geological Survey show the magnitude-4.4 earthquake struck in the Caribbean Sea about 25 miles (40 kms) west of Port-au-Prince.
Even minor tremors cause panic in the Haitian capital nearly four months after a catastrophic 7.0 earthquake that the government says killed at 230,000 people.
Meanwhile, an electrical fire forced the evacuation Sunday night of 100 earthquake survivors from a smoke-filled tent hospital.
Project Medishare chief Barth Green says lightning from a rainstorm struck the ground beside the airport-side hospital’s 5,000-square-foot tents.
Chief medical officer Vince Boyd says the surge caused wires to melt above an operating room. The smoldering fire spread across a pediatric tent and into another housing adult patients.
Workers carried out patients as the smoke spread. The hospital was functioning Monday.
