西半球最贫穷国家海地周二发生里氏7.0级强烈地震，官员和目击者说，地震造成一些建筑物倒塌，目前死亡人数还不清楚。

A powerful earthquake measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale shook Haiti on Tuesday, causing several buildings to collapse in the Western hemisphere's poorest nation and leading to an unknown number of fatalities, officials and witnesses said.

震中位于海地首都太子港西南仅10英里的地方，这座城市人口稠密、穷人众多。更糟糕的是，据美国地质调查局(U.S. Geological Survey)说，这是一次相对浅层的地震，震中距地面仅五英里。浅层地震会造成更大破坏。

The earthquake was centered just 10 miles southwest of the crowded and impoverished capital of Port-au-Prince. Making matters worse, the earthquake was relatively shallow, at a depth of five miles, the U.S. Geological Survey said. Shallow earthquakes can cause more damage.

海地驻美国大使约瑟夫(Raymond Alcide Joseph)对有线电视新闻网(CNN)说，这真是一场重大灾难。

'I think it's really a catastrophe of major proportions,' Haiti's ambassador to the U.S., Raymond Alcide Joseph, told Cable News Network.

美联社(Associated Press)的一位摄像记者看到了太子港附近地区Petionville一座医院的废墟。路透社(Reuters)援引一名目击者的话报导说，太子港有几座建筑已经倒塌，废墟下有伤亡人员。

An Associated Press videographer saw the collapsed wreckage of a hospital in Petionville, near Port-au-Prince. Reuters news agency cited a witness saying several buildings had crumbled in the capital and that there were dead and injured trapped in the rubble.

美国地质调查局的地球物理学家贝里尼(John Bellini)对《华尔街日报》说，在此次地震烈度最高的地区至少生活着180万人。他说，在这样一个人口稠密地区发生强烈的浅层地震，真的有可能造成重大破坏。

At least 1.8 million people live within the area where the earthquake had its highest intensity, John Bellini, a geophysicist at the USGS, told The Wall Street Journal. 'With a strong and shallow earthquake like this in such a populated area, it could really cause substantial damage,' he said.

贝里尼还说，美国地质调查局的记录显示，这至少是1770年以来海地最强烈的一次地震。他说，海地通常不是地震多发地区。

The quake was the most powerful to hit Haiti since at least 1770, according to USGS records, Mr. Bellini added. 'This isn't normally an earthquake-prone area,' he said.

在第一次地震后几分钟，又发生了两次震级分别为里氏5.9级和5.5级的余震。

Within minutes of the original tremor, two aftershocks rolled through the area, measuring 5.9 and 5.5 on the Richter scale.