A massive earthquake has struck the Caribbean island of Haiti. Thousands are feared dead with many more seriously injured.

Islamic Relief has launched an appeal for £1 million to respond to the disaster.

The epicentre of the 7.0 magnitude earthquake was just 16 kilometres from the capital Port-au-Prince. Much of the city is made up of slums and poorly constructed houses that would not be able to withstand an earthquake.

The scale of the disaster is not yet known as all communication lines are currently down. But there are reports that homes, government buildings and hotels have collapsed, with people still being dug out of the rubble.

The earthquake struck at 5pm local time on Tuesday 12^th January 2010 and many people have spent the night on the streets. Several strong aftershocks caused further chaos and panic.

Hospitals are struggling to cope with the large numbers of injured people and there is an urgent need for emergency medical care, food, clean water and shelter.

Haiti is the poorest country in the Western hemisphere, and struggles from endemic poverty, food shortages and violence. It has suffered from many recent natural disasters including serious hurricanes and storms in 2008.

Please donate and help us to respond to this disaster.