The government has moved to strengthen  the country’s borders in the wake of Haiti’s earthquake this past weekend that killed at least fifteen people  and injured some 300  in that impoverished island nation. 

The police, the  defense force, immigration and all other border patrol agencies are on alert in the event there is an influx of Haitians leaving their home for the Bahamas. 

Immigration Minister Brent Symonette said, “the government has been looking and it is guided  by the Minister of National Security with the whole question of using drones as a way of assisting the border control and other security devices.”

  In 2010, a catastrophic earthquake magnitude 7.0 struck Haiti’s capital Port Au Prince, killing thousands.

In a humanitarian effort, the Bahamas government, at the time, relaxed the country’s borders. 

However, the Immigration Minister said considering the circumstances, he would imagine that this time around, the response would be different. 

He said, “the earthquake in Haiti this time is not of  the same magnitude; if my memory serves me correct, as the one before. Neither has it caused the same amount of destruction.

“That was a particularly strong earthquake that left thousands of people homeless, dead, and caused damage to the infrastructure. This one is not of that magnitude,” he added.

Among the victims of this Saturday’s earthquake was a five year-old boy, who was killed when his home collapsed. 

Haiti’s President Jovenel Moise has made an urgent appeal for blood.