'We can't catch a break': Ottawa's Haitian community heartbroken following powerful earthquake in Haiti

OTTAWA -

It was late Saturday at the Richmond Village Farmers’ Market when Michelle Peters heard her home country Haiti was hit by a major earthquake. 

"I was like, oh my God we can’t catch a break," said Peters who left Haiti for Ottawa at a young age. "My heart just broke."

As of Sunday at least 724  people are dead, 2,800 people injured or missing, and thousands are displaced from their homes.

"Every time we try to build up something happens and it's very, very hard," Peters said, still in disbelief of the 7.2 magnitude earthquake.  

Followed by a series of aftershocks, the earthquake struck a town about 150 kilometres west of the capital Port-au-Prince, reducing churches, hotels and homes to rubble. The devastation expected to worsen with Tropical Storm Grace expected to hit late Monday.

For some, this has brought back memories from the devastating hurricane in 2016 and the earthquake in 2010.

"The last earthquake it was a mess, so I don't know what can be done right now," said Ottawa resident Jean Saintable. "My only question is why? Why is it always Haiti?"

Saintable, who has been in Ottawa for the last 25 years, recently spoke to family and friends living in southwest Haiti - many still shaken from Saturday’s earthquake.

"They are scared because they don't want to go inside, because they don't want that to happen again because they saw it repeating," he said. "So, they (are) still outside."

“It’s my people, it's my country," said Peters. "When the people of Haiti hurt I hurt."

Members of the Haitian community in Ottawa tell CTV News Ottawa that plans are underway for a vigil next week, including ways to provide relief for a country that has been hit by waves of devastation.