Some 7,000 victims killed in Tuesday's earthquake in Haiti have already been buried, Haitian president Rene Preval said today.
"We have already buried 7,000 in a mass grave," Mr Preval told reporters at the airport while accompanying Dominican Republic president Leonel Fernandez, the first foreign head of state to visit Haiti after the devastating earthquake.
Mr Fernandez said one of the most important things Haiti needed was help in burying its dead.
Major aid consignments have yet to reach Haiti in the wake of the earthquake, leaving tens of thousands dead and survivors sleeping outdoors.
Many are believed to be still trapped alive in rubble following the 7.0 magnitude quake that hit Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince. There were no sign of organised operations to rescue those trapped or remove bodies, and doctors in Haiti, the poorest country in the western hemisphere, are ill-equipped to treat the injured.
Traumatised Haitians slept out in parks and streets last night, fearing aftershocks to the catastrophic earthquake that flattened homes and government buildings and buried countless people.
The United States announced today it will send up to 3,500 soldiers to Haiti from the US army's 82nd Airborne Division to assist with disaster relief and security. President Obama has asked former president George W. Bush to take part in the Haitian relief effort.
The Department of Foreign Affairs has said all 18 Irish citizens known to be in the country are alive and well.
Separately, President Mary McAleese today wrote to the Haitian president to offer condolences on behalf of the nation.
”The loss of so many lives and the widespread destruction caused by the earthquake has deeply grieved me. The sorrow of the people of Haiti has resonated deeply in Ireland and our thoughts and prayers are with you and your people," she said.
Gena Heraty, from Carrowreevagh, Westport, Co Mayo, has worked as a lay missionary in an orphanage run by the Our Little Brothers and Sisters charity on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince for 16 years.
"Haiti is devastated and bleeding like you wouldn't believe - so many bodies, so many people looking for medical help, so much blood and so much sadness. Not enough doctors, not enough nurses, not enough beds, not enough medical supplies." she told The Irish Times.
"Kids are missing, some of our staff are dead, some of our kids are dead . . . Poor Haiti, nobody deserves what these people are going through," she added.
Survivors feared returning to their precarious homes and slept in open areas where groups of women sang traditional religious songs in the dark and prayed for the dead.
"They sing because they want God to do something. They want God to help them. We all do," said Hotel Villa Creole employee Dermene Duma, who lost four relatives.
Tens of thousands wandered dazed and sobbing in the chaotic, broken streets of Port-au-Prince the day after the earthquake, hoping desperately for assistance.
Bodies were visible all around the hilly city: under rubble, lying beside roads, being loaded into trucks. Scattered bodies were laid out on sidewalks, wrapped neatly in sheets and blankets. Voices cried out from the rubble.
As aftershocks continued to shake the devastated capital, Port-au-Prince, residents tried to rescue people trapped under rubble, clawing at chunks of concrete with bare hands. Men with sledgehammers battered at slabs of debris in collapsed buildings searching for survivors.
One young man yelled at reporters in English: "Too many people are dying. We need international help . . . no emergency, no food, no phone, no water, no nothing."
Asked by a CNN reporter how many people had died, Haitian president Rene Preval replied, "I don't know . . . up to now, I heard 50,000 . . . 30,000." He did not say where the estimates came from.
The United Nations said today at least 36 of its personnel were confirmed killed after the collapse of the UN headquarters in Haiti and other buildings during the quake.
An Oxfam staff member was also killed when part of Oxfam's office collapsed.
Amedee Marescot was a business manager for Oxfam in the country and is survived by his wife and three children who are based in the US, the aid agency said.
Mr Marescot was Haitian and had worked for Oxfam for 13 years. He was injured as part of the Oxfam office collapsed and died later in hospital.
Oxfam said the rest of it100-strong team were safe. Its 15 emergency specialists in the country are preparing to respond with the provision of water and sanitation.
Haiti's white presidential palace lay in ruins, its domes fallen on top of flattened walls. Mr Preval and his wife were not inside when the earthquake struck. Mr Preval called the damage "unimaginable" and described stepping over dead bodies and hearing the cries of those trapped in the collapsed parliament building, where the Senate president was among those pinned down by debris.
"It's the worst I've ever seen," the Salvation Army's director of disaster services in Haiti, Bob Poff, told CNN. "It's so much devastation in a concentrated area. It's going to take days, or weeks, to dig out."
The earthquake's epicentre was only 16 km from Port-au-Prince. About four million people live in and around the city, which was rocked by aftershocks as powerful as 5.9 magnitude.
Normal communications were cut off, roads were blocked by rubble and trees, electric power was interrupted and water was in short supply. The only lights visible in the city came from solar-powered traffic signals.
Haitian Red Cross spokesman Pericles Jean-Baptiste said his organisation - accustomed to dealing with disaster in a country dogged by poverty, catastrophic natural disasters and political instability - was overwhelmed and out of medicine.
"There are too many people who need help. . . . We lack equipment, we lack body bags," he said.
US secretary of state Hillary Clinton cut short a trip to the Pacific, and defence secretary Robert Gates cancelled plans to visit Australia to deal with the earthquake response.
The United States, China and European states are sending reconnaissance and rescue teams, some with search dogs and heavy equipment, while other governments and aid groups offered tents, water purification units, food and telecoms teams.
Additional reporting: Reuters