PORT-AU-PRINCE: A strong earthquake struck Haiti this morning, shaking buildings and sending screaming people running into the streets only eight days after the country’s capital was devastated by a previous quake.

The US Geological Survey said the 6.1 magnitude quake hit at 1103 GMT about 56 km northwest of the capital of Port-au-Prince. It struck at a depth of 22 km but was located too far inland to generate any tidal waves in the Caribbean.

Wails of terror rose today from frightened survivors of the apocalyptic quake that struck eight days ago as people poured out of unstable buildings.

It was not immediately possible to ascertain what additional damage the new quake may have caused.

Last week’s magnitude-7 quake killed an estimated 200,000 people in Haiti, left 250,000 injured and made 1.5 million homeless. A massive international aid effort has been launched, but is struggling with overwhelming logistical problems. Still, search-and-rescue teams have emerged from the ruins with some improbable success stories - including the rescue of 69-year-old ardent Roman Catholic who said she prayed constantly during her week under the rubble.

Ena Zizi had been at a church meeting at the residence of Haiti’s Roman Catholic archbishop when the January 12 quake struck, trapping her in debris. Yesterday, she was rescued by a Mexican disaster team that was created in the wake of Mexico City’s 1985 earthquake.

Elsewhere in the capital, two women were pulled from a destroyed university building. And near midnight yesterday, a smiling and singing 26-year-old Lozama Hotteline was carried to safety from a collapsed store in the Petionville neighbourhood by the French aid group Rescuers Without Borders. Crews at the cathedral compound site Tuesday managed to recover the body of the archbishop, Monsignor Joseph Serge Miot, who was killed in the quake.

Authorities said close to 100 people had been pulled from wrecked buildings by international search-and-rescue teams. Efforts continued, with dozens of teams sifting through Port-au-Prince’s crumbled homes and buildings for signs of life. But the good news was overshadowed by the frustrating fact that the world still can’t get enough food and water to the hungry and thirsty.

The World Food Programme said more than 250,000 ready-to-eat food rations had been distributed in Haiti by yesterday, reaching only a fraction of the 3 million people thought to be in desperate need.