Haitian Prime Minister Jean Max Bellerive Estimates Over 100,000 Dead from Earthquake

As he toured the devastated capital Port-au-Prince overnight Prime Minister Jean Max Bellerive said the death toll could be enormous.

"I believe that we are well over 100,000," he said.

"I've seen so many buildings, so many neighbourhoods totally destroyed, and in some neighbourhoods we don't even see people," he said.

Aid organizations have deployed emergency response teams to Haiti and appealed for donations after the Caribbean nation was was struck by a devastating earthquake described by local officials as a "catastrophe of major proportions."

The magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck southern Haiti on Tuesday, knocking down buildings and inflicting a new catastrophe on the western hemisphere's poorest nation.