Rescue workers are continuing to search for survivors today after a school collapsed killing at least 83 children in Petionville near the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince.

At least  107 children have been injured, many are still unaccounted.

As many as 700 children were inside the building when it collapsed around 10 a.m. ET Friday, officials said. Some were in class and others were in a playground, Haitian media reported.

"We are looking at major casualties here," said Alex Claudon, a Red Cross official on the scene.

President Rene Preval and Prime Minister Michele Pierre-Louis toured the disaster area. The Haiti Press Network quoted Preval as saying that he "heard and saw with my own eyes children appealing for help."

At least one member of the Haitian Parliament has raised questions about whether the school was built for the number of students and teachers who were inside when the College La Promesse Evangelique collapsed, Renois said. The official described the building as "not quite solid" with "weak construction."

Preval has since called for a review of building-construction guidelines.

The school partially collaspsed some years ago.

Reports say that the upper floor of the school was still under construction.

A French teacher at the school, Jimmy Germain, said people living downhill from the school had abandoned their land, fearing the building could collapse.

Associated Press quoted police as saying that the preacher who ran the school could face criminal charges.

There has been trouble at other schools in the area but this was caused the mayor using armed masked militia to try to takeover the building and evict the children.
Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere.
It also has a recent history of corruption and political violence.