A view of the badly damaged presidential palace - the center portion formerly 3 stories tall - after an earthquake in Port-au-Prince, Haiti on January 13, 2010. (REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz)

As I’m sure everyone has heard, Haiti has been rocked with a 7+ earthquake.  The country literally was leveled in just a few seconds with an estimated 45,000-50,000 already dead and a forecast of up to 100,000+ in total.  No one knows for sure the exact damage and death tool but looking at the picture above (the presidential palace) you get an idea of what kind of serious infrastructure damage has been done.  If the presidents house got leveled you can imagine what a locals home looks like now.

If anyone would like to help, the Matador Travel community has a post about what you can do to assist.  To visually understand the damange of Haiti, see Boston.com website with 47 large format photos.  Help spread the word, as any and all help will make a big difference to the people affected by this unfortunate incident.

A view of a damaged neighborhood in the Canape-Vert area on January 13, 2010, after an earthquake the day before in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. (REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz)