Following a rough sea in Thursday night on the shores of Northwest department, a rumor created early Friday morning, a panic in the population in Saint Louis du Nord and Port-de-Paix and caused one wounded.

The Ministry of Interior and Territorial Communities regrets that following a persistent rumor pretending a possible tsunami threatening the coasts of the department of Northwest, a mass panic among the population in Saint Louis du Nord and Port-de-Paix has resulted in one wounded [a lady who tried to cross a drainage channel]. The Ministry of Interior informs the public that this is a false alert amplified by the rumblings of the sea, stirred in the night of 16 to 17 January 2014.

The Ministry of Interior reassures the population that there is no warning in the Northwest and invites citizens to return to their homes in peace. The structures of the Departmental Civil Protection (DPC) and Communal, are already intervened in local media and on the ground to back the population to calm.

Friday evening, David Basile, the Minister of the Interior spoke on the airwaves of National Television of Haiti (TNH), to put people in confidence and took the opportunity to greet the spontaneous reaction of the population, who was able to implement the safety initiated since the end of 2010.

David Basile has renewed its commitment to the population to continue through DPC, prevention activities across the country and indicated that due to the particular nature of vulnerability of the Northern Department, particular attention is paid to this department. However, he recalled that "the North as most other departments of the country must be prepared to cope with natural hazards of large magnitudes," inviting the population to follow the various safety guidelines of constituted authorities in the matter.

HL/ HaitiLibre