Some of the country´s most venerable buildings, including Haiti´s presidential palace, were destroyed by the late-afternoon, 7.0-magnitude quake, and photos of the scene clearly showed dead bodies arrayed in the streets.[break]
As night fell, residents of the capital suffered through the terror of a series of strong aftershocks, according to scattered reports from the country, and communications were patchy in the quake´s aftermath.
The full magnitude of destruction quickly dawned on Haitian officials, one of whom described the quake as a "catastrophe of major proportions."
The US Geological Survey (USGS) said 24 strong aftershocks hit the country in the hours after the initial 2153 GMT quake.
Sara Fajardo of Catholic Relief Services told AFP that staff in the country were terrified the aftershocks would topple more buildings.
"Most of the Catholic Relief Services staff is going to be sleeping on the CRS office compound but they´re sleeping outside because they´re too afraid to sleep indoors out of safety concerns because of the aftershocks," she said.
"There have been buildings that have fallen down, there was one right across from our office," Fajardo said after CRS members spoke with staff in Haiti.
Locals and photographers posted photos on microblogging Internet site Twitter showing scenes of utter devastation with flattened buildings, ripped up telephone poles and crushed cars.
A pall of grey smoke hung over a part of one city, as dazed residents covered in dust were helped from the rubble. Roads and highways had been snapped, their tarmac twisted and torn.
Video of the initial quake aired on CNN showed a thick cloud of dust erupted from dozens of collapsing buildings obscuring the view of Port-au-Prince for minutes after the temblor.
"I think it´s really a catastrophe of major proportions," Haiti´s ambassador to the United States, Raymond Alcide Joseph, told CNN.
The quake shook the earth for more than a minute, and left buildings including Haiti´s presidential palace, parliament and several ministries damaged beyond repair.
The headquarters of the UN mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), which has served as a peacekeeping mission there since 2004, was also destroyed by the temblor.
"The headquarters of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti has been destroyed in large part. There are numerous people underneath the rubble, both dead and injured," a local employee said.
Night fell shortly after the quake and there was no electricity to light the streets making it difficult to tell how many people had been injured or killed in the disaster.
But initial estimates suggested a high death toll in the Haitian capital, an overcrowded city full of poorly-constructed buildings.
"When we get an idea of the toll it will be measured in the hundreds," a local doctor, who was bloodied and nursing an injured left arm, told AFP.
Nations around the world offered aid and the United States, France, Canada and governments across Latin America geared to send help.
US President Barack Obama said: "My thoughts and prayers go out to those who have been affected by this earthquake," as the State Department, Pentagon and US Southern Command began to put together aid teams.
In Paris, Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said France "expresses its complete solidarity" with Haiti.
Canada, which hosts an 80,000-strong Haitian community, said it was "deeply concerned."
Rachel Wolff, international media director for World Vision, said their national director in Port-au-Prince described terror after the quake.
"He said he heard quite a bit of screaming in the capital where he works, people seemed very frightened, people were out in the streets, there was a bit of a panicked situation," she told AFP.
Hours after the quake some residents continued tweeting as they hoped for help.
"When my batteries die I will no longer be able to communicate..it´s going to be a long night..our prayers go out to everyone," wrote one in their message.
The USGS said the quake´s epicenter was just 15 kilometers (nine miles) southwest of Port-au-Prince.
A tsunami alert for the Caribbean region was issued, but swiftly lifted.
USGS geophysicist Susan Potter said the last earthquake of such magnitude to strike Haiti occured in 1897.
Already the poorest nation in the Americas, Haiti has been hit by a series of recent disasters.
Three hurricanes and a tropical storm pounded Haiti in 2008, killing 793 people and leaving more than 300 others missing, according to government figures.
The country was also gripped by a tense political standoff in 2008 amid riots over skyrocketing food prices. UN troops are a regular sight in the country.
Seventy percent of Haiti´s population lives on less than two dollars per day, and half of its 8.5 million people are unemployed.
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