On early Tuesday morning, June 6, a 4.9 magnitude earthquake hit southern Haiti, resulting in at least four deaths and dozens of injuries. 

The earthquake hit Les Abricots, Haiti, near the coastal city of Jeremie at a depth of six miles, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Two homes collapsed in the quake. Three of the four victims were discovered underneath a collapsed house where rescuers searched for additional victims. 

Frankel Maginaire of Haiti’s Civil Protection Agency in Jeremie told AP that several children were hospitalized with injuries they received after attempting to run in a panic. 

The earthquake comes in the nearly immediate aftermath of severe floods and landslides that devastated the island this past weekend. As of this writing, the floods have resulted in at least 42 deaths, 85 people injured and 11 missing or unaccounted for. 

According to the Haitian Civil Protection Agency, nearly 12,800 people have been impacted by the flooding and the number of casualties is expected to continue rising. 

The recent earthquake simply adds another wrinkle to the recovery efforts the island has to face. 

Claude Prepetit, a geologist and engineer with Haiti’s Bureau of Mines and Energy, said that smaller earthquakes that occurred earlier in the year in southern Haiti led to the bigger one that struck today. 

This is the latest in a string of earthquakes that have struck the island over the past few years. 

In January 2022, a 5.3 magnitude earthquake struck Haiti that left a handful of people dead, and injured several more.

That earthquake took place less than six months after a stronger 7.2 magnitude earthquake in southern Haiti killed more than 2,200 people in August 2021. 

“Disasters keep hitting Haiti, left and right,” said Dr. Didinu Tamakloe, Haiti director for Project Hope. “People have not had sufficient time to recover from previous disasters, only to be hit by flash flood, an earthquake and landslides in a matter of days.”

Bertrhude Albert, Ph.D., CEO and co-founder of P4H Global, posted a video detailing why Haiti has been so prone to earthquakes. 

The frequency with which Haiti often endured earthquakes makes it that much more difficult to recover from the preceding one.

In January 2010, a 7.7 earthquake decimated the island near its capital, Port-au-Prince, killing over 200,000 people and causing widespread devastation to buildings throughout the island.

With recovery efforts for the latest set of catastrophic events underway, Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry has asked for international assistance.