A huge quake measuring 7.0 has rocked the impoverished Caribbean nation of Haiti toppling buildings and causing widespread damage and panic.
A tsunami alert was immediately issued for the Caribbean region after the earthquake struck at 2153 GMT on Tuesday (0853 AEDT on Wednesday).
An AFP correspondent said the ground shook for more than a minute.
Just minutes later two aftershocks measuring both 5.9 and 5.5 on the moment magnitude scale hit, US officials said.
"I think it's really a catastrophe of major proportions," the country's ambassador to the United States, Raymond Alcide Joseph, told CNN television.
The US Geological Survey said the powerful quake was initially measured at 7.3 on the scale and struck 16 kilometres from the capital Port-Au-Prince, and 27 kilometres from Petionville.
Haiti's presidential palace and numerous other government buildings in the country's capital Port-au-Prince collapsed , Haitian television, streaming online, reports.
A journalist with Haitian television station Haitipal, interviewed by telephone from Port-au-Prince, told the station that public buildings across the capital had been destroyed.
"The presidential palace, the finance ministry, the ministry of public works, the ministry of communication and culture [were all affected by the quake]," the reporter said, adding that the Parliament building and a cathedral in the capital were also crumbling.
Buried under rubble
Residents were buried under the rubble, a Reuters reporter in the city said.
He said he saw dozens of dead and injured people in the rubble, which blocked streets in the city.
The epicentre of the quake was located inland, only 16 kilometres from Port-au-Prince and was very shallow at a depth of only 10 kilometres.
It prompted a tsunami watch for parts the Caribbean, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said.
"Everything started shaking, people were screaming, houses started collapsing ... it's total chaos," Reuters reporter Joseph Guyler Delva said.
"I saw people under the rubble and people killed," he added.
A local employee for the US charity Food for the Poor reported seeing a five-storey building collapse in Port-au-Prince, a spokeswoman for the group, Kathy Skipper, said.
Another Food for the Poor employee said there were more houses destroyed than standing in Delmas Road, a major thoroughfare in the city.
Panic-stricken residents filled the streets desperately trying to dig people from rubble or seeking missing relatives as darkness fell shortly after the quake.
"People were screaming 'Jesus, Jesus' and running in all directions," Delva said.
American Luke Renner, who was staying in Cap-Hatien about 160 kilometres north of Port-au-Prince, described the moment the quake hit.
'House balancing on a beach ball'
"It felt like our whole house was balancing on a beach ball," Mr Renner told CNN.
‘‘We heard the whole community screaming and in an uproar during that whole 20- to 30-second window.’’
It was difficult to assess the damage because of nightfall, he said.
‘‘With the sun setting it may be difficult to tell. In the morning we’ll know for sure."
Troy Livesay, who lives in in Haiti and works with Heartline Ministries, also described his reactions on Twitter.
‘‘Just experienced a MAJOR earthquake here in Port au Prince - walls were falling down - we are ALL fine - pray for those in the slums,’’ he wrote.
‘‘Most people are staying outside in our area - aftershocks are still continuing ... a neighbor was in a school that collapsed.’’
A spokesman for Australian NGO Plan Australia said it received an email from its office in Haiti earlier this morning soon after the earthquake hit.
The message was brief, describing that an earthquake had hit but that the full extent of damage was unknown. The office was staffed mostly by Haitians, he said.
The tsunami centre said the watch was in effect for Haiti, the neighbouring Dominican Republic - with which it shares the island of Hispaniola - Cuba and the Bahamas.
"A destructive widespread tsunami threat does not exist based on historical earthquake and tsunami data," the centre said.
"However, there is the possibility of a local tsunami that could affect coasts located usually no more than 100 kilometres from the earthquake epicentre."
US President BArack Obama said: "My thoughts and prayers go out to those who have been affected by this earthquake. We are closely monitoring the situation and we stand ready to assist the people of Haiti."
A tsunami alert was immediately issued for the Caribbean region after the earthquake struck at 2153 GMT on Tuesday (0853 AEDT on Wednesday).
An AFP correspondent said the ground shook for more than a minute.
Just minutes later two aftershocks measuring both 5.9 and 5.5 on the moment magnitude scale hit, US officials said.
"I think it's really a catastrophe of major proportions," the country's ambassador to the United States, Raymond Alcide Joseph, told CNN television.
The US Geological Survey said the powerful quake was initially measured at 7.3 on the scale and struck 16 kilometres from the capital Port-Au-Prince, and 27 kilometres from Petionville.
Haiti's presidential palace and numerous other government buildings in the country's capital Port-au-Prince collapsed , Haitian television, streaming online, reports.
A journalist with Haitian television station Haitipal, interviewed by telephone from Port-au-Prince, told the station that public buildings across the capital had been destroyed.
"The presidential palace, the finance ministry, the ministry of public works, the ministry of communication and culture [were all affected by the quake]," the reporter said, adding that the Parliament building and a cathedral in the capital were also crumbling.
Buried under rubble
Residents were buried under the rubble, a Reuters reporter in the city said.
He said he saw dozens of dead and injured people in the rubble, which blocked streets in the city.
The epicentre of the quake was located inland, only 16 kilometres from Port-au-Prince and was very shallow at a depth of only 10 kilometres.
It prompted a tsunami watch for parts the Caribbean, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said.
"Everything started shaking, people were screaming, houses started collapsing ... it's total chaos," Reuters reporter Joseph Guyler Delva said.
"I saw people under the rubble and people killed," he added.
A local employee for the US charity Food for the Poor reported seeing a five-storey building collapse in Port-au-Prince, a spokeswoman for the group, Kathy Skipper, said.
Another Food for the Poor employee said there were more houses destroyed than standing in Delmas Road, a major thoroughfare in the city.
Panic-stricken residents filled the streets desperately trying to dig people from rubble or seeking missing relatives as darkness fell shortly after the quake.
"People were screaming 'Jesus, Jesus' and running in all directions," Delva said.
American Luke Renner, who was staying in Cap-Hatien about 160 kilometres north of Port-au-Prince, described the moment the quake hit.
'House balancing on a beach ball'
"It felt like our whole house was balancing on a beach ball," Mr Renner told CNN.
‘‘We heard the whole community screaming and in an uproar during that whole 20- to 30-second window.’’
It was difficult to assess the damage because of nightfall, he said.
‘‘With the sun setting it may be difficult to tell. In the morning we’ll know for sure."
Troy Livesay, who lives in in Haiti and works with Heartline Ministries, also described his reactions on Twitter.
‘‘Just experienced a MAJOR earthquake here in Port au Prince - walls were falling down - we are ALL fine - pray for those in the slums,’’ he wrote.
‘‘Most people are staying outside in our area - aftershocks are still continuing ... a neighbor was in a school that collapsed.’’
A spokesman for Australian NGO Plan Australia said it received an email from its office in Haiti earlier this morning soon after the earthquake hit.
The message was brief, describing that an earthquake had hit but that the full extent of damage was unknown. The office was staffed mostly by Haitians, he said.
The tsunami centre said the watch was in effect for Haiti, the neighbouring Dominican Republic - with which it shares the island of Hispaniola - Cuba and the Bahamas.
"A destructive widespread tsunami threat does not exist based on historical earthquake and tsunami data," the centre said.
"However, there is the possibility of a local tsunami that could affect coasts located usually no more than 100 kilometres from the earthquake epicentre."
US President BArack Obama said: "My thoughts and prayers go out to those who have been affected by this earthquake. We are closely monitoring the situation and we stand ready to assist the people of Haiti."
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