A small earthquake rattled the southern border of Haiti and the Dominican Republic yesterday but there were no reports of further deaths or destruction in an area where devastating floods and mudslides killed about 2,000 people this week.
The quake, with a magnitude of 4.4, was felt in the hard-hit Dominican border town of Jimani, where more than 350 people were killed in the flooding, the Dominican emergency operations center said. It did not report any damage.
The epicenter of the quake was on the Haitian side of the border at a depth of 20 miles (33 km), the Dominican center said. Quakes of magnitude 4 can cause moderate damage, but are not considered severe.
The quake hit as foreign military helicopters shuttled tons of food and drinking water to flood-devastated Haitian towns, the only lifeline for thousands of homeless people cut off from the world.
The death toll in Haiti stood at about 1,800, while more than 380 people were killed in the Dominican Republic, most in Jimani. Aid workers and officials have said the toll could rise as more bodies are found in the mud and debris.