TEHRAN, Aug. 16 (MNA) – The death toll in a powerful earthquake that struck Haiti on Saturday has grown to 1,297, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported on Sunday citing the republic’s department of civil protection.

According to the agency, at least 5,700 people were injured, 3,200 of them were hospitalized.

The search for survivors still continues.

Meanwhile, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths announced that the global organization would allocate at least $8 million to help Haiti, TASS reported.

"I am allocating $8 million from UNCERF [United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund Secretariat] to support the humanitarian response to the earthquake that struck Haiti yesterday," he wrote on Twitter. "This allocation will provide essentials like healthcare, clean water, emergency shelter, and sanitation for people affected by the disaster."

On Saturday morning, a 7.2-magnitude earthquake was registered near Haiti. The earthquake struck 40 kilometers from the southern city of Les Cayes, with a population of 125,000 people, at the depth of 10 kilometers. Later the Dominican newspaper Listin Diario reported about an aftershock measuring a magnitude of 5.2. The government declared a month-long state of emergency.

MA/PR