Bottlenecks delay landing of supplies

THOUSANDS OF homeless and injured Haitians were still awaiting food, shelter and medical treatment yesterday, despite governments across the world intensifying their efforts to bring relief to survivors of Tuesday’s massive earthquake.

Damaged roads, weak communications networks and security problems were among the logistical hurdles faced by rescue teams and aid workers who continued to arrive in the capital, Port-au-Prince, throughout the day.

At the city’s airport, planes full of supplies landed faster than ground crews could unload them, causing bottlenecks and forcing arriving aircraft to circle for up to two hours before landing.

Estimates of the death toll varied, but the Haitian Red Cross said it believed 45,000 to 50,000 people had died and three million more – one-third of Haiti’s population – were hurt or left homeless by the quake. “We have already buried 7,000 in a mass grave,” President René Préval said.

Across the world, moves intensified to guarantee financial aid for the emergency effort and for the future reconstruction of the impoverished Caribbean country. UN agencies prepared to launch a “flash appeal” for about $550 million and said the World Food Programme would seek to provide life-saving food rations to two million destitute people for the next month.

A longer-term operation was also being planned. Following announcements of funding from the US, the UN, the World Bank and governments across the globe this week, France’s finance minister, Christine Lagarde, said she had contacted the other members of the Paris Club of sovereign creditors to discuss speeding up debt relief for Haiti.

On the logistical front, the US navy reported that its aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson was due to arrive yesterday to serve as a “floating airport” for relief operations by its 19 helicopters. The US is sending 3,500 soldiers, 300 medical personnel, several ships and 2,200 marines to Haiti to provide relief and security after a disaster that has left the country with a barely functioning state.

American officials reported that Cuba had agreed to let the US military use its restricted airspace for medical evacuation flights, sharply reducing the flight time to Miami.

The Dominican Republic, whose relations with its neighbour on the island of Hispaniola have often been strained, was yesterday opening its border to injured Haitians. Dominican President Leonel Fernández also offered his country’s ports and airports as a staging ground for aid in a meeting withMr Préval.

Despite the global mobilisation, however, reports from Port-au-Prince suggested that in some areas there was little sign yesterday of an organised aid operation. The situation was “hopeless” for many Haitians and aid efforts were not yet providing significant help, said David Wimhurst, communications director of the UN peacekeeping mission in Haiti.

With time running out, Elisabeth Byrs of the UN office for the co-ordination of humanitarian affairs said 17 search-and-rescue teams were deployed in the capital, with six more on their way. “There are pockets of survival. We shouldn’t give up hope,” she said.

On the plight of the injured, meanwhile, Stefano Zannini, head of mission for Médecins Sans Frontières in Haiti, said its medical centres were dealing with thousands of patients who required surgery while staff had also been treating “burnt people in very, very bad condition” in recent days.

Speaking by telephone from Port-au-Prince, Mr Zannini – whose charity has 800 staff in Haiti – reported that lorries had begun to collect bodies on roads and footpaths but the number remaining presented a “very dangerous issue” for public health. “The streets are crowded with people looking for help and trying to find their families,” he said.

In South Africa, meanwhile, Haiti’s exiled former president Jean Bertrand Aristide said he was ready to return to help in the aftermath of the earthquake.