INTERNATIONAL REACTION:RELIEF TEAMS and emergency supplies were dispatched to Haiti from across the world yesterday as governments and aid agencies responded to the earthquake and the ensuing humanitarian crisis.
While damaged communication networks and the country's dilapidated infrastructure made it difficult to gauge the numbers of dead and wounded, the Red Cross estimated that about three million people were in need of emergency help. There are too many people who need help . . . We lack equipment, we lack body bags, Haitian Red Cross spokesman Pericles Jean-Baptiste said.
As relief operations were mounted yesterday, the US, France, Canada, Germany, China, Mexico and Venezuela were among scores of countries that pledged immediate support through personnel, cash and supplies.
In New York, UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon issued an emergency call for the international community to "come to Haiti's aid in this hour of need" and said the UN had mobilised an emergency response team to help co-ordinate relief efforts.
"There is no doubt that we are facing a major humanitarian emergency and that a major relief effort will be required," Mr Ban said.
On the collapse of the five-storey UN headquarters building in Port-au-Prince, he said the head of mission, Hedi Annabi, was among more than 100 to 150 people who were unaccounted for.
President Barack Obama extended "the deep condolences and unwavering support" of the American people to Haiti and pledged "full support" for rescue and humanitarian assistance.
"For a country and a people who are no strangers to hardship and suffering, this tragedy seems especially cruel and incomprehensible," Mr Obama said at the White House following a national security council meeting. He ordered US agencies to undertake a "swift, co-ordinated" effort to get aid to Haiti.
US Navy aircraft carrier USS
Vincent
is expected to reach the Caribbean country in a couple of days and a number of smaller vessels were already in the area.
In Paris, President Nicolas Sarkozy reacted to news of the earthquake in Franceüs former colony "with dread and profound emotion", while foreign minister Bernard Kouchner said France "expresses its complete solidarity" with Haiti.
The French military sent two planes carrying rubble-clearing specialists, sniffer dogs and a field hospital, while Spain dispatched three planes with at least 100 tonnes of tents, blankets and other supplies. Israel also sent an elite army rescue unit of engineers and medics. Meanwhile, the World Food Programme said it planned to airlift 86 tonnes of food supplies from El Salvador.
Declarations of financial aid for Haiti - the western hemisphere's poorest country - came from across the world yesterday. The European Commission approved €3million of fast-track funding for the relief effort, while Spain said it would provide €3million, the Netherlands pledged €2 million, Germany €1 million and China, €600,000.
The Inter-American Development Bank said it would provide $200,000 in immediate aid, and the World Bank planned to send a team to help assess damage and plan a recovery.
UN officials struggled to assess the scale of the disaster because of badly damaged communication networks and were working with aid agency Telecoms Sans Frontires to get phone lines working again. There was no electricity in the capital and roads were filled with rubble and debris.
"The priority is to find survivors," said a spokeswoman for the UN's Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs. "We are working against the clock."
Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said he was "very concerned" by the situation, including about the fate of some 1,200 Brazilian members of the 7,000-strong UN stabilisation mission in Haiti, which Brazil leads. Brazil's army said at least 11 Brazilian members of the peacekeeping mission were killed and many soldiers were missing.
In Latin America, Venezuela said it would send a 50-member humanitarian relief team to Haiti, while Colombia, Panama, Peru and the Dominican Republic - which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti - all offered support.
Pope Benedict XVI appealed to "everyone's generosity" in a call for financial aid for Haiti after a papal audience in Rome. "The Catholic Church will immediately activate“The Catholic Church will immediately activate [its aid] through its charity institutions in order to respond to the most urgent needs of the population,” he said. The Catholic archbishop of Port-au-Prince was reported to be among the dead.
As humanitarian agencies rushed to provide help, Médecins Sans Frontières said about 600
people were being treated at its hospitals and that more supplies were being dispatched. However, a spokesman for the charity said it was able only to offer basic care because all its buildings had been destroyed. The aid organisation World Vision, which has 400 staff in Haiti, said it would immediately distribute the hurricane relief supplies it had stored there.