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Friday, January 15, 2010

Aid delays hit deavastated Haiti


Rescued ... three-month-old is saved from ruins in devastated capital

A THREE-MONTH-OLD baby is pulled from ruins in Haiti today — as furious survivors slammed the lack of aid reaching the devastated country.

Billions of pounds from across the world has been pledged to help desperate Haitians, but little has yet to reach those most in need.

A woman looks for a loved one among the bodies on the ground outside the morgue in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Thursday,
Horror ... bodies on ground outside morgue in Port-au-Prince

The plea for help came as it was revealed Britons donated more than £2million in 36 hours to help those suffering in the wake of Tuesday's catastrophic earthquake.

The money flooded in within hours as desperate emergency workers continued to pull bodies from crumbling buildings.

The Pan American Health Organisation today said the death toll could be as high as 100,000.

And huge logistical hurdles and the scale of the destruction meant aid was still being delayed.

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Quake survivor Andres Rosario, speaking from an improvised camp at a rubbish dump, said: "We have lost everything. We are waiting for death. We have nothing to eat, nowhere to live. We have had no help. No one has come to see us."

Another Renelde Lamarque added: "No one is helping us. Please bring us water or people will die soon."

Shaken survivors held out their arms to foreign reporters in the streets, begging for food and water.

Some survivors, angry over the delays, built roadblocks out of corpses. And local radio stations broadcasted messages telling people to put out their dead in the street for collection.

Rescuers carry a 3 month old baby found alive following a powerful earthquake that left much of the capital city in ruins.
Devastation ... bodies outside morgue

More than 4,000 buildings including 2,000 houses and apartment blocks have been destroyed or damaged according to the first findings from the European Commission's Joint Research Centre using satellite images.

Europe's foreign policy supremo Cathy Ashton was already looking at the problem of reconstruction today.

Baroness Ashton said: "While we are making sure that Haiti receives the immediate and urgent support it needs, we also have to get ready for the very important next step in helping Haiti to rebuild the country. Rebuilding Haiti is now a priority for the EU."

A 40-strong search and rescue team from the UK made it into the Carrefour district of the capital Port-au-Prince today according to the Department for International Development.

Rescuers carry a 3 month old baby found alive following a powerful earthquake that left much of the capital city in ruins.
Crumbling ... street in capital Port-au-Prince
Scott Hornby

They were working under UN protection alongside Chinese rescuers with the help of Echo, a specially trained search dog.

Collapsed nearby were a hotel and hospital as a second British rescue team made up of firefighters entered a ruined church at the centre of the city where a child was believed trapped.

The Disasters Emergency Committee said the British donations had flooded in online and joined a private donation from the Queen. That total will now be much higher as it was calculated at 8am this morning.

DEC chief executive Brendan Gormley said: "We are delighted at the generosity of the British people even before our major television and radio appeals hit the airwaves.

Rescuers carry a 3 month old baby found alive following a powerful earthquake that left much of the capital city in ruins.
Without a prayer ... Cathedral of Port-au-Prince stands in ruins

"Efforts on the ground have been hampered by a lack of power and communications problems after the devastating quake but aid is starting to get through and DEC members are working hard in the field."

The DEC said despite the donations "much more money" is needed.

Tory leader David Cameron said the disaster would test the world's ability to respond.

He said: "Parents who have lost so many children they cannot bury them, children who have lost parents and have no hope - these are scenes that we must never forget."

"And our whole world is going to be tested on how we can respond, and how we can help in the emergency stage and also how we help to rebuild this country."

Rescuers carry a 3 month old baby found alive following a powerful earthquake that left much of the capital city in ruins.
Rubble ... remains of people's homes and lives

PM Gordon Brown has already pledged £6million in aid, while US President Barack Obama promised £61.4million which is being matched by the International Monetary Fund.

As part of the US response 100,000 troops will be located in and around the stricken nation by Monday.

British Airways said it had a Boeing 747 capable of carrying 50 tons of aid standing by to fly to Haiti tomorrow. Virgin Atlantic said it was also flying in aid and medics.

The airline's president Sir Richard Branson said: "Everyone who has seen the sheer destruction in Haiti over the last few days will have been moved to help in any way they can."

Gun-toting looters roamed the streets after the police abandoned their posts to look after their own families.

Rescuers carry a 3 month old baby found alive following a powerful earthquake that left much of the capital city in ruins.
Destruction ... buildings collapsed across Haiti's capital

Russian rescuers said the security situation was so bad they would not work after nightfall.

The city's main prison was also destroyed by the quake leaving 4,000 prisoners free to roam the streets while bands of young men and boys with machetes were making the city even more hazardous.

Michel Legros, 53, said they were simply "scavenging everything" as he waited for help to search for seven relatives in a collapsed house.

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