Haiti's Civil Protection Agency said Sunday that the death toll from this month's magnitude 7.2 earthquake has grown to 2,207, with 344 people still missing. The previous figure had been 2,189 on Wednesday. The agency said via Twitter that 12,268 people were injured and nearly 53,000 houses were destroyed by the Aug. 14 quake.
Tropical Storm Grace also rolled across Haiti on Tuesday, pounding the region with drenching rains just days after a powerful earthquake devastated a swath of the island nation's so-called southwestern "claw." The storm hit as thousands of Haitians dug through rubble looking for loved ones or hunted for shelter after the earthquake crumbled entire towns and left hospitals overwhelmed with the injured.
The new toll comes at a time when relief operations are expanding — the U.S.-based aid agency Samaritan's Purse opened a field hospital Saturday — but authorities are struggling with security at distribution points. Gangs have hijacked aid trucks and desperate crowds have scuffled over bags of food. In the hard-hit city of Les Cayes, meanwhile, some attended outdoor church services on Sunday because sanctuaries had been badly damaged by the quake, which was centered on the impoverished nation's southwestern peninsula.
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