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Desperately needed aid from around
the world slowly made its way Thursday into Haiti, where supply
bottlenecks and a leadership vacuum left rescuers scrambling on
their own to save the trapped and injured and get relief supplies
into the capital.


      The international Red Cross estimated that 45,000 to 50,000
people were killed in Tuesday's magnitude-7.0 earthquake.


      President Barack Obama announced that "one of the largest
relief efforts in our recent history" is moving toward Haiti, with
thousands of troops and a broad array of civilian rescue workers
flying or sailing in to aid the stricken country - backed by more
than $100 million in relief funds.


      To the Haitians, Obama promised: "You will not be forsaken."


      The nascent flow of rescue workers showed some results: A newly
arrived search team pulled a U.N. security worker alive from the
organization's collapsed headquarters, where about 100 people are
still trapped. He stood, held up a fist in celebration, and was
helped to a hospital.

      Planes from China, France, Spain and the United States landed at
Port-au-Prince's airport, carrying searchers and tons of water,
food, medicine and other supplies - with more promised the Western
Hemisphere's poorest nation. The international Red Cross estimated
3 million people - a third of the population - may need emergency
relief.


      The Federal Aviation Administration halted all civilian flights
from the United States to Port-au-Prince at the request of the
Haitian government, because there is no room on the ground for more
planes and not enough jet fuel for planes to go back, an official
at the FAA said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was
not authorized to talk publicly.


      It took six hours to unload a Chinese plane due to a lack of
equipment - a hint of possible bottlenecks ahead as a global
response brings a stream of aid flights to the quake-damaged
airport.

      "We don't have enough handling equipment or the people to run
it," said U.S. Air Force Col. Ben McMullin, part of the team
handling traffic at the airport. "We're trying to control the flow
of aircraft."

      In Geneva, Red Cross spokesman Jean-Luc Martinage said the
Haitian Red Cross estimated 45,000 to 50,000 people were killed,
based on reports from its network of volunteers across
Port-au-Prince.


      There seemed to be little official Haitian presence in much of
the capital - or at the airport.


      McMullin said about 60 planes carrying 2,000 people had landed
since Wednesday, when the airport reopened, and noon Thursday.


      U.S. military forklift operators helped unload some foreign
flights as well as U.S. cargos, and Haitian staff were far
outnumbered by foreign aid workers and military, and no senior
Haitian officials were visible.


      In the city, trucks carrying police and U.N. workers or
equipment to clear away debris were often stuck in traffic on roads
filled with pickup trucks, cars and pedestrians. At many collapsed
buildings, neighbors and volunteers dug through rubble - often with
bare hands - to free trapped residents without help from the
government.


      Since the earthquake, President Rene Preval has maintained his
typical low profile, granting only a couple of media interviews and
making few public appearances. His own residences were damaged in
the quake and the Parliament building collapsed, along with some
other ministries and departments.

      State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said the U.S. had been
in touch with Preval, and added: "We're not taking over Haiti. We
are helping to stabilize Haiti, we're helping to provide them
lifesaving support."

      The often-chaotic city was surprisingly calm, despite the
devastation, though journalists occasionally heard the sound of
isolated gunfire. It was not clear if it was aimed at people. Even
in normal times, guards sometimes fire shotguns in the air to keep
people away from stores.

      There has been widespread looting of collapsed buildings since
the earthquake hit, but rarely of undamaged shops, said Matt Marek,
Haiti country representative of the American Red Cross.


      "There is no other way to get provisions," he told The
Associated Press. "Even if you have money, those resources are
going to be exhausted in a few days."


      Bodies lay in the street, often covered by a white cloth, in the
tropical heat. Some people dragged the dust-covered dead along the
roads, trying to reach a hospital where they might leave them.

      Others tried to carry dead relatives to nearby hills for
impromptu burials, prompting Brazil's military - the biggest
continent among U.N. peacekeepers - to warn the practice could lead
to an epidemic. It said it asked authorities to create a new
cemetery.


      The Brazilian military said it also was worried that bodies
could be left too long because many Voodoo followers in Haiti do
not allow the dead to be touched before all their rituals are
concluded.


      "This is much worse than a hurricane," said Jimitre Coquillon,
a doctor's assistant working at a triage center set up in a hotel
parking lot. "There's no water. There's nothing. Thirsty people
are going to die."


      Aid workers reported confusion over how to cope with the sudden
flood of aid from scores of places.


      "Donations are coming in to the airport here, but some are
coming without notice from very well-meaning groups," said Save
the Children spokeswoman Kate Conradt. "There is not yet a system
to get it in" to those who need it.

      Search and rescue squads from Virginia and Iceland arrived
Wednesday and some groups - from Cuba's government and Doctors
Without Borders - used physicians already in the country to treat
victims immediately after the quake.

      Obama promised Haitians an all-out rescue and humanitarian
effort, including the military and civilian emergency teams from
across the U.S., adding that America - and the world - "stands
with you."


      The U.S. Army said a detachment of more than 100 soldiers from
the 82nd Airborne Division was heading out from Fort Bragg in North
Carolina, looking for locations to set up tents and other
essentials in preparation for the arrival of another 800 personnel
Friday.


      That's in addition to some 2,200 Marines to be sent, as the
military prepares to help with security, search and rescue
missions, and the delivery of humanitarian supplies. More than a
half-dozen U.S. military ships also are expected to help, with the
largest, the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson, arriving later
Thursday.

      French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said that 91 injured
French nationals were evacuated to the Caribbean island of
Martinique.


      The acrid smell of drywall and dust that filled the air
immediately after the quake has faded, giving way to the usual
aromas of Port-au-Prince: flowers and mango trees, with a hint of
gasoline and urine.


      Police officers carried the injured in their pickup trucks.
Wisnel Occilus, a 24-year-old student, was wedged between two other
survivors in a truck bed headed to a police station. He was in an
English class when the quake struck and the building collapsed.


      "The professor is dead. Some of the students are dead, too,"
said Occilus, who suspected he had several broken bones.
"Everything hurts."


      Other survivors carried injured to hospitals in wheelbarrows and
on stretchers fashioned from doors.


      About 3,000 police and international peacekeepers cleared
debris, directed traffic and maintained security in the capital.
But law enforcement was stretched thin even before the quake and
would be ill-equipped to deal with major unrest. 


The U.N.'s
9,000-member peacekeeping force sent patrols across the capital's
streets while securing the airport, port and main buildings.


      The State Department announced one American had died in Haiti,
saying that at least 164 U.S. citizens have been evacuated since
the quake.


      Coast Guard C-130 planes have airlifted 42 American officials
and their families and another 72 private citizens to safety,
Crowley said.


      Another 370 Americans were awaiting flights out, he said. There
were about 45,000 Americans living in Haiti at the time of the
earthquake.

      The International Committee of the Red Cross said it set up a
Web site to help Haitians find missing loved ones. Robert
Zimmerman, deputy head of the group's tracing unit, said people in
Haiti and abroad can register missing relatives on the site.
     

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The international Red Cross estimated that 45,000 to 50,000 people were killed in Tuesday's magnitude-7.0 earthquake in Haiti, as aid from around the world slowly made its way into the country.

Red Cross: up to 50,000 dead in Haiti; Aid starts to arrive

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