Here’s a frame of reference to keep in mind: A magnitude 6.5 earthquake strikes off the coast of Northern California on Saturday, causing $21.9 million in damage to the city of Eureka but — thanks to high building standards and retrofitting — no deaths or major injuries. Then consider the 1994 Northridge Earthquake, which occurred smack in the middle of temblor-prepared Southern California, but with a magnitude of 6.7 resulted in 72 killed and more than 8,700 injured.

Now increase the magnitude to 7.0, put it just 10 miles from the capital of Haiti, and figure in the fact that 80 percent of the country lives below the poverty line in poor infrastructure, and you have an idea of the disaster that occurred tonight.

The first stop after an earthquake is the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program, to view the stats, the maps, the summary of the seismic event. For the human toll of the largest quake to hit Haiti in more than two centuries, including the devastating collapse of a hospital, here’s the latest Associated Press report:

“U.S. officials reported bodies lying in the streets and an aid official described ‘total disaster and chaos.’

Communications were widely disrupted, making it impossible to get a full picture of damage as powerful aftershocks shook a desperately poor country where many buildings are flimsy. Electricity was out in some places.

Karel Zelenka, a Catholic Relief Services representative in Port-au-Prince, told U.S. colleagues before phone service failed that ‘there must be thousands of people dead,’ according to a spokeswoman for the aid group, Sara Fajardo.

‘He reported that it was just total disaster and chaos, that there were clouds of dust surrounding Port-au-Prince,’ Fajardo said from the group’s offices in Maryland.

State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said in Washington that embassy personnel were ‘literally in the dark’ after power failed.

‘They reported structures down. They reported a lot of walls down. They did see a number of bodies in the street and on the sidewalk that had been hit by debris. So clearly, there’s going to be serious loss of life in this,’ he said.”

Additionally, CNN is monitoring tweets and other messages to try to put together a pictured of what’s going on in Haiti right now.

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