UN peacekeepers have increased security in the Haitian city of Gonaives where more than 1,000 people died in floods after survivors fought each other to get food supplies.
Mr Toussaint Kongo-Doudou, spokesman for a Brazilian-led UN force patrolling the poor Caribbean country after the ouster earlier this year of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, said additional UN troops would also guard food convoys heading to Gonaives.
The decision to boost security around relief operations was made after UN troops had to fire into the air on Wednesday to prevent looting when the first beans, rice and other supplies were handed out to an estimated 20,000 flood victims.
"I think it's fair to say that the situation is tense because people are desperate. Many have not eaten since Saturday night or Sunday morning," said Ms Anne Poulsen, spokeswoman for the UN World Food Program.
"It's a concern but it's not a problem," Ms Poulsen added.
The national civil defence agency said 1,150 bodies had been recovered by yesterday, mainly from Gonaives, a city of 200,000 that was buried under a wall of water and a thick coat of mud after Tropical Storm Jeanne triggered torrential rainfall over the weekend.
Another 1,200 people were still missing and the United Nations warned the body count could rise dramatically in the coming days because two areas of Gonaives remained under water and inaccessible.
Haiti frequently suffers devastating floods because most of its trees have been chopped down to make charcoal for cooking. Floods on the Dominican-Haitian border killed about 2,000 people in May.
Mr Aristide, the deposed president, mourned the latest victims in a statement issued from his exile in Pretoria, South Africa.
"It is with great sadness that I watch reports of the devastation wrought upon Haiti . . . Gonaives, the cradle of our independence, has suffered enormously," he said.