Rescue teams rush to Haiti
2010-01-14 14:02
Special Report
There is not much left of the city's numerous churches, beside crosses and the occasional surviving stained glass window...
Washington - Rescuers, doctors and soldiers rushed to Haiti by air and sea on Thursday in a sweeping global response to the devastating earthquake feared to have killed more than 100 000 people.
With much of the capital Port-au-Prince reduced to rubble, forward teams of civilian and military experts began landing at the still-operational airport while more headed to the impoverished nation by sea.
Governments and aid organisations around the world unlocked relief funds, despatched experts to claw through the debris for survivors and promised help to reconstruct shattered homes, schools and hospitals.
The initial effort was focused on saving as many lives as possible after Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive said the death toll from Tuesday's 7.0-magnitude quake could reach "well over 100 000".
As a wealthy neighbour with the world's most powerful military, the United States was well-placed to lead the effort, mobilising an array of specialists, ships, planes and helicopters.
The USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier was set to arrive later on Thursday with destroyers and more Coast Guard ships en route and 5 000 troops on stand-by.
"I have directed my administration to respond with a swift, co-ordinated and aggressive effort to save lives," US President Barack Obama said.
Humanitarian emergency
"The people of Haiti will have the full support of the United States in the urgent effort to rescue those trapped beneath the rubble, and to deliver the humanitarian relief, food, water and medicine that Haitians will need."
General Douglas Fraser, head of US Southern Command, said an early survey indicated the damage was concentrated around the capital, but that the number of casualties and scale of the disaster was still unknown.
Former US president Bill Clinton, now UN special envoy in Haiti, launched a quake fund saying even a dollar would help and Pope Benedict XVI called for a generous response.
Clinton called the disaster "one of the great humanitarian emergencies in the history of the Americas".
"What Haiti needs most is money for water, food, shelter and basic medical supplies to bring immediate relief to those who are homeless, hungry and hurt," he wrote in a commentary for the Washington Post.
The Red Cross launched a $10m appeal for donations, the World Food Programme offered 15 000 tons of food and the World Bank said it would provide an extra $100m in aid.
"We are entering a critical period. There must be massive humanitarian aid arriving this evening," said Olivier Bernard, president of the medical relief agency organisation Medecins du Monde.
"To save lives," he told AFP, "surgery must be available ideally within the first 48 hours".
A British flight carrying some 75 officials and rescue specialists arrived in the Dominican Republic en route to neighbouring Haiti. They were accompanied by sniffer dogs and some 10 tons of equipment.
International development minister Douglas Alexander told BBC radio: "The most basic needs - the need for shelter, the need for water, the need for medicine and the need for food - are going to emerge, we sense, on an immense scale in the hours, days and weeks ahead."
'Forget it, you don't have a country any more'
Cuba, which felt the quake, sent 30 doctors to join staff already in Haiti. Brazil said it was providing $10m in immediate aid, while Peru, Venezuela, Mexico, Colombia, Guatamala and Chile also promised help.
Canada readied two warships, helicopters and planes with supplies, as well as a large relief and rescue force.
From the Asia-Pacific region, Australia pledged $9m while Taiwan, whose ambassador to Haiti was hurt, South Korea and New Zealand also offered aid.
Japan, well used to quakes, pledged five million dollars and offered tents and rescuers.
In Tokyo, the Haitian embassy's charge d'affaires Jean-Claude Bordes said Port-au-Prince "is totally destroyed".
"Some friends told me: 'Forget it, you don't have a country any more'."
The World Health Organisation is deploying specialists to help handle mass casualties and corpses, warning of the danger of communicable diseases such as diarrhoea.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said it was preparing to help up to three million people.
The European Commission released three million euros and nations offered their own funds on top of that.
The Netherlands sent a team of 60 search and rescue personnel as well as sniffer dogs. Russia sent search and rescue teams and vowed more aid, including a field hospital and medical supplies.
In Paris, President Nicolas Sarkozy called an emergency meeting to step up French rescue efforts. France has already flown planes of rescuers along with sniffer dogs and 12 tons of aid and equipment.
Aid organisations, impromptu groups and individuals also used the internet and Twitter to rally donations, bolstering their messages with harrowing footage from Haiti's ruins.
- AFP