At least 7 dead as magnitude 5.9 earthquake hits northern Haiti

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 7, ARMENPRESS. Amagnitude 5.9 earthquakestruck near Haiti on Saturday night, according to the US Geological Survey.

At least seven people were killed and 130 injured, according to a partial assessment of the damage, Renald Lubérice, General Secretary of the Council of Ministers of Haiti said on Twitter, CNN reported.

"The government is mobilized to assist the victims. We ask people in affected areas to remain vigilant," Lubérice said.

Prime Minister Jean-Henry Céant said a crisis cabinet has been created to coordinate all emergency responses to the earthquake.

"Damage has been recorded mainly in the Far North. All my sympathies to the victims. The executive at the highest level is mobilized to provide appropriate answers. I call on the population to be cautious and calm,"he said in a statement posted to Twitter.

President Jovenel Moïse also tweeted that civil protection workers are already working to assist people in affected areas.

The USGS said the center of the quake was about 11 miles northwest of the city of Port-de-Paix. It was only 7.2 miles deep.

In January 2010, a 7.1 magnitude earthquakekilled an estimated 220,000 to 300,000 people in Haiti.Tens of thousands of people are still displacedas a result of the quake.