At Least 12 Killed In Haiti Earthquake

Sr Maryse Alsaint walks alongside a school damaged by a magnitude 5.9 earthquake the night before, in Gros Morne, Haiti, Sunday, Oct. 7, 2018. Emergency teams worked to provide relief in Haiti on Sunday after the quake killed at least 11 people and left dozens injured. ( AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)

AAP

2018-10-07T20:08:59+00:00

A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck off the northern coast of Haiti has killed 12 people and left 188 injured.

The country's civil protection agency say that at least seven people died in the coastal city of Port-de-Paix and three people died in the nearby community of Gros-Morne in the province of Artibonite.

It said the injured were being treated at medical centres in the northern part of the country.

Interior Minister Fednel Monchery told radio station MAGK9 that 12 people had died.

Sr Maryse Alsaint walks alongside a school damaged by a magnitude 5.9 earthquake the night before, in Gros Morne, Haiti, Sunday, Oct. 7 ( AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)

"I feel like my life is not safe here," said nun Maryse Alsaint, director of the San Gabriel National School in Gros-Morne, where several classrooms were severely damaged.

She said that about 500 students would not be able to return to school on Monday.

The US Geological Survey said the quake hit at 8.11pm local time on Saturday and was centred 19km northwest of Port-de-Paix, which is 219km from the capital of Port-au-Prince.

The quake was 11.7km below the surface.

It was felt lightly in the capital, as well as in the neighbouring Dominican Republic and in eastern Cuba, where no damage was reported.

Residents stand looking at a collapsed school damaged by the earthquake (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)

In Haiti, officials have struggled to shore up buildings despite the two major fault lines along Hispaniola, which is the island shared with the Dominican Republic.

Deep poverty and government instability have also rendered weaker homes and structures particularly vulnerable in earthquakes.

Rescue workers in Haiti said they were not looking for any more victims, but evidence of the quake's destruction was on view.

Haiti President Jovenel Moise indicated on his Twitter account on Sunday that civil protection brigades were working to clear debris.

He also said the government had sent water and food.

In 2010, a vastly larger magnitude 7.1 quake damaged much of the capital in 2010 and killed an estimated 300,000 people.