Haiti rocked by magnitude 7 earthquake and 24 aftershocks

Thousands of lives are expected to be lost after the Caribbean nation of Haiti experienced a 7.0 magnitude earthquake on Tuesday afternoon, and while the search for survivors continues many tourists are also among those missing.

Several hotels have collapsed with the aftershocks, including the Hotel Montana popular with American and European tourists, where 300 people were believed to have been inside, 100 have managed to escape, leaving 200 missing.

The final death toll is believed to be very high, though an estimate is hard to produce with thousands still missing, the Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive told CNN that the death toll could be “well over 100,000”, while the international Red Cross estimates that 3 million people will be effected.

A 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck only 15 kilometres away from the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince at nearly five o’clock in the afternoon.  Half of the 24 major aftershocks registered a magnitude of 5.0 to 5.9.

Already, the tourism industry has offered its support, with the Caribbean Tourism Organization offering its condolences as well as relief efforts.

“It is evident that in the aftermath of this terrible disaster the challenge is to alleviate the suffering,” said the tourism body in a statement.

“We at the CTO and throughout our member countries in the Caribbean will be doing whatever is necessary to offer financial and other assistance and to coordinate relief efforts in the days and weeks ahead.”

Tourism impacted

The earthquake will likely impact the emerging destination’s tourism growth chances, with recent efforts to push the destination to western tourists now likely stalled.

Choice hotels early in this month announced it will be opening two hotels in the country at the resort town of Jacmel, some 25 minutes drive from Port-au-Prince.  The status of these developments is currently unknown.

In a push to further tourism infrastructure, the local government recently upgraded its main international airport to include jet-ways and escalators, and also approved expansion plans for a second international airport in the city of Cap-Haitien,

There had also been rumours that Best Western and Hilton were interested in new Haitian projects prior to the quake.