Haiti earthquake: 200 missing in Hotel Montana collapse
January 13th, 2010 - 9:44 pm ICT by Aishwarya Bhatt
Port-au-Prince, Jan 13 (THAINDIAN NEWS) A very popular hotel in the Haiti capital collapsed due to the massive earthquake. Hotel Montana collapsed and around 200 people are missing.
A French minister said on radio Europe I, “I am talking about the Hotel Montana, where tourists stay and French nationals working in Haiti stay. We know there were 300 people inside the hotel when it collapsed, only around 100 have got out, which greatly concerns us” French Secretary of State for Cooperation Alain Joyandet said. Haiti is a popular spot with the French nationals and close to 1400 French nationals live there.
Hotel Montana is very popular with the French tourists and he said around 60 French nationals who are misplaced have now taken refuge at the French embassy in Port-au-Prince. The earthquake measured around 7.0 on the Richter scale and in this major earthquake both the embassy and the ambassador’s residence have been damaged. There has been major loss of life and property and France was sending humanitarian aid. “We are sending two planes today, one from Fort-de-France (Martinique) with 25 police and rescuers and hospital staff, another from Marseille (south of France) with 60 people on board.”
The 7.0-magnitude earthquake happened around 4.53 p.m. local time 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.
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Tags: collapse, french embassy, french minister, french nationals, french tourists, hospital staff, hotel montana, humanitarian aid, kilometers, magnitude earthquake, massive earthquake, port au prince, radio europe, rescuers, richter scale, south of france, strongest earthquake, two planes, united states geological, united states geological survey