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U.S. Rep. Lizzie Fletcher has promised Haiti that the United States will help the country after a devastating earthquake struck the Caribbean nation on Aug. 14.
The 7.2 magnitude earthquake has devastated the country, killing more than a thousand people, injuring thousands of others and damaging or destroying many homes.
"My heart is with the people of Haiti—and with Haitians across our Houston community—after this weekend's earthquake," Fletcher wrote in an Aug. 18 tweet.
According to NBC News, as of Aug. 17 more than 1,900 people lost their lives and nearly 10,000 were injured due to the earthquake, which was followed by heavy rains from Tropical Storm Grace.
"Countless Haitian families who have lost everything due to the earthquake are now living literally with their feet in the water due to the flooding," Bruno Maes, UNICEF's Haitian representative, said in a statement to NBC News.
UNICEF, a humanitarian organization, said 1.2 million Haitians have been impacted by the earthquake, NBC News reported. Fletcher said she'll work to make sure the country receives the aid they desperately need.
"Congress will continue working with the Biden-Harris administration to help our neighbors in need," Fletcher wrote in her tweet.
According to NPR, the earthquake on Aug. 14 happened a decade after a magnitude 7.0 earthquake leveled the country. That disaster killed more than 200,000 people.
Officials and experts fear the 2021 earthquake will have a far greater impact than the 2010 disaster even though more lives were lost in the earthquake 11 years ago, USA Today reported.
Haiti is located near the intersection of two tectonic plates and scientists have predicted that the aftershocks from the latest earthquake could last weeks, if not months. According to USA Today, the largest one following the quake so far has registered at a 5.2 magnitude.