Hundred of earthquake survivors are camped out at the Auberge du Québec near Port-au-Prince shown before the quake. Hundred of earthquake survivors are camped out at the Auberge du Québec near Port-au-Prince shown before the quake. (Auberge du Québec/CBC)

About 200 people are camped out on the grounds of the Auberge du Québec in Haiti, afraid or unable to return to their homes, says its owner, Quebecer Levis Bérubé.

The hotel, which is located on a hillside southwest of the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince, not far from the epicentre of the quake, suffered little damage, Bérubé said.

The hotel has food and is operating on a generator — a luxury available to few others in the region, Bérubé said.

The conditions are much worse in the valley below, said one of the hotel's employees, Jean-Brunelle Joseph.

There are bodies covered in white sheets lying in the streets and countless others in the rubble, Joseph said.

Schools collapsed with children inside having little chance to escape, he added.

Local doctors are poorly equipped to treat the many wounded, Bérubé said.

After the quake, hundreds of local residents spent the night in the courtyard of Bérubé's hotel.

"We had aftershocks most of the night," Bérubé said. "We spent the whole night outside, people being scared of going inside houses.

"Everybody was sitting on blankets. Most were praying— thanking God that all of them there didn't die."