US troops secure Haiti presidential palace, hospital

PORT-AU-PRINCE — US troops descended by helicopter to take control of Haiti's ruined presidential palace Tuesday, AFP reporters saw, as the military earthquake relief operation gathered pace.

Paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne division arrived in at least four choppers to secure the executive mansion, a once elegant white building in the devastated city center, now surrounded by a vast refugee camp.

From the palace, a 100-strong infantry company headed on foot to the city's general hospital, swamped with injured left behind by last week's catastrophic earthquake, which the Haitian government says killed at least 70,000.

"We are here to provide security to the hospital. We work with the government of Haiti. We have rules of engagement, but we are on a humanitarian mission," Sergeant Bill Smith told AFP.

The arrival was the most spectacular deployment so far in the US military's operation to bring relief to Port-au-Prince, but was not welcomed by some in the crowd who saw the arrival as an affront to Haitian sovereignty.

"I haven't seen the Americans in the streets giving out water and food, but now they come to the palace," said Wilson Guillaume, as some of the homeless living rough in the Champ de Mars square before the palace shouted abuse.

"It's an occupation. The palace is our power, our face, our pride," said Feodor Desanges.

While most Haitians have welcomed the international intervention, there is mounting frustration as what many see as the slow pace of moves to provide food and shelter to the homeless, and looting has broken out.

While army paratroopers took charge of key downtown sites, Marines were landing southwest of the city to link up with UN peacekeepers and prepare to land a larger flow of troops and equipment, a US military official said.

Source:AFP

UN to send 3,500 more peacekeepers to Haiti

The United Nations agreed Tuesday to send 3,500 more peacekeepers to Haiti -- a decision that came amid rising tension between relief workers and increasingly desperate earthquake survivors.

The UN Security Council agreed unanimously to the increase. The troops will bolster efforts by 7,000 UN peacekeepers and 2,000 police already there, to maintain security and support earthquake relief efforts.

Haitian officials are now saying the death toll from last week's earthquake will hit 200,000.

Some 70,000 bodies have now been recovered from the rubble and trucked off to mass graves. The latest casualty report from the European Commission, which cited Haitian government figures, doubled previous estimates of the dead, to approximately 200,000.

European Commission analysts estimate another 250,000 have been injured and a staggering 1.5 million are now homeless. Most of those are sleeping in the streets of the capital or trying to find transportation to get out to the countryside, where some hope food is easier to find.

For those who stay, accessing the aid that is being brought in is a huge challenge.

CTV's Tom Clark, reporting from Port-au-Prince, says the problem isn't a lack of aid, as it was in the early days of the quake aftermath -- now it's a matter of distribution.

About 100 aircraft a day, loaded with food, water and supplies, are now being allowed to land at the capital's only airport. They include huge Hercules C-130 and C-17 transport planes that are coming in around the clock, 24 hours a day.

As well, the U.S. military says it will begin using two additional airports to bring in aid in the coming days.: one in the town of Jacmel, where Canada's DART team has based its efforts; and another airfield in neighbouring Dominican Republic.

"So there's no shortage of aid arriving. The real problem is getting it out to the people," Clark told Canada AM Tuesday.

"I liken it to taking all that aid and getting it through the eye of a needle."

With the port in the capital blocked and badly damaged, distribution of supplies can only come through the city's lone airport.

Getting it out to the people from there is proving a further challenge. Most infrastructure is completely destroyed, and many roads are blocked and impassable, Clark says.

"And even if you get into the neighbourhoods, you have the problem of how do you distribute aid without causing a riot. That has already happened a few times here," he says.

The U.S. military tried to do an air drop of relief supplies from C-17 transport planes Monday, parachuting pallets of ready-to-eat meals to a secured area outside the city, rather than landing and unloading at the crowded airport.

"But that created a riot on the ground," says Clark. "Then they tried passing it out through iron gates. When they finally ran out, the mobs just broke down the gates and took the last of the stores.

"So there's a clash between the desperation, the need for help and the need for order."

United Nations relief agency officials said the security situation was largely under control and had not hampered distribution of food rations to 270,000 Haitians so far.

"The situation is tense but calm. Of course there are lootings because the population is on edge," Elisabeth Byrs, spokeswoman of the UN Office for the Coordination of humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), told Reuters in Geneva.

Still, there have been reports of outbreaks of violence. In the huge Cite Soleil slum, gangsters who escaped from the city's notorious main penitentiary are reportedly reassuming control. Police are urging citizens to take justice into their own hands.

"If you don't kill the criminals, they will all come back," Reuters reports a Haitian police officer shouted over a loudspeaker.

Nighttime is especially dangerous is some neighbourhoods, prompting some locals to carry machetes and travel in groups to fight bandits.

Medical relief workers say they are treating gunshot wounds in addition to broken bones, with many of those bullets coming form the same police forces charged with protecting citizens.

Clark reports that in some neighbourhoods, citizens have set up blockades at the ends of their streets, in an effort to prevent bandits from coming in.

United Nations Chief Ban Ki-moon says he had recommended to the Security Council that 1,500 police and 2,000 troops be added to the 9,000-member UN peacekeeping mission in Haiti, to provide further security.

Alain Le Roy, the UN peacekeeping chief, told reporters that the reason for more troops is three-fold: securing the humanitarian convoys; creating a "humanitarian corridor," and building a reserve force in case the situation "unravels" further, he said.

Clark says the key to keeping the lid on the violence is to get the food, water and supplies out to the people quickly.

"Everybody knows the consequences of not getting the food out and that's that you could reach a tipping point where desperation simply overwhelms the relief effort," he said.

Source:edmonton.ctv.ca/

Should cruise ships have returned to Haiti?

As humanitarian aid arrives and rescue workers continue their efforts to rebuild Haiti following the devastating earthquake last week, there's been much talk about Royal Caribbean's decision to resume calls on Labadee — the cruise line's private “island” destination about 100 miles from capital city Port-au-Prince (it was not damaged in the quake).

Royal Caribbean's Independence of the Seas was the first to return, on Friday. And, despite rumors on Cruise Critic's message boards that Royal Caribbean might reverse its decision, swapping Labadee for sea days, a cruise line spokeswoman tells us there are no plans to cancel calls. Both Navigator (which arrived today) and Liberty of the Seas (which calls on the port Friday) have been loaded with 80 pallets worth of supplies. On Friday, Celebrity Solstice will make its regularly scheduled stop — also bringing passengers and aid.

The majority of Cruise Critic readers support Royal Caribbean's decision, according to a homepage poll that ran on both cruisecritic.com and cruisecritic.co.uk. A resounding 67 percent of readers supported Royal Caribbean decision, saying that it was a good idea to continue calling in the region as the ships and passengers were bringing much needed aid and money.

There are some cruise travelers who disagree with the quick return, however, as conversations on controversial subject continue on Cruise Critic's message boards. “I have donated my money, but I would not feel comfortable going there for a vacation at this time,” posts Cruise Critic member jerseygirl79. “Not only would I not feel safe, but I wouldn't feel comfortable enjoying a vacation so close to utter devastation and loss of life.”

Ac110, meanwhile, disagrees: “Don't you see that depriving these people of employment is the last thing we should be doing right now?! Go, enjoy, and tip generously.”

Member Mechcc offers even more advice to those arriving in the port who want to help: “First off, everyone gets off the ship and heads to the market and buys a trinket at an outrageous price. And add a few dollars to the price. Then tip someone on the beach for carrying their bag. It has been reported that food that is not eaten by the passengers is taken home by the Haitians working at Labadee. So passengers — don't eat while on Labadee. Have a big breakfast, head back to the ship for a slice of pizza for lunch, and enjoy your dinner onboard.

“Leave the food that is prepared at Labadee for your enjoyment to be taken by the Haitians. Some of it will find its way to the shelters. You can do without it. Also, leave a few unopened bottles of water with the Haitians. And if you are on a cruise that RCI is donating profits from that stop to charity, well buy an excursion. You don't have to go on it, just buy it. Or donate that money to one of the charities that are helping out.

“Honestly, you can get off the ship, contribute, and have a subdued day. I also would probably leave several pair of brand new pairs of flip-flops on the beach. Not to mention a few new T-shirts and whatever. New and unused.”


More from Cruise Critic
Major cruise line returning to Europe
How you can help in Haiti
Cruise line relief efforts

Beyond Royal Caribbean, cruise line relief efforts vary. A passenger who was onboard Carnival Miracle in the Caribbean when the quake hit told Cruise Critic via e-mail that passengers were not told about the tragedy until the next day. “We wished Carnival would do something ... food, water,” she writes. “Granted passengers were on ‘vacation,’ but that didn't mean they stopped caring about humanity. Another reason to look to Royal Caribbean or Celebrity for our next cruise.”

Carnival Corporation on Monday announced that its cruise brands — including, among others, Carnival Cruise Lines, Princess Cruises, Crystal Cruises, P&O Cruises and Holland America Line — will donate $5 million toward Haiti relief via multiple international organizations.

What do those closer to the disaster think? Cruise Critic Editor-in-Chief Carolyn Spencer Brown shares this firsthand story after engaging in conversation with a Haitian taxi driver in Miami while traveling there this weekend. “He's from Labadee of all places, which is a good distance from Port-au-Prince. I asked him: how do Haitians feel about a cruise ship coming back so soon. He said that Labadee was not affected and that it's still crucial for people there to keep working, to have some sense of normalcy — and that the country needs any supplies it can get (which Royal Caribbean was bringing in).

“I said, ‘So it's not disrespectful, then?’ He looked incredulous, and said, ‘absolutely not.’ ”

Royal Caribbean has committed to providing $1 million in humanitarian relief to Haiti, a portion of which will augment the company's Crew Relief Fund, which can be drawn on by any of the company's more than 200 Haitian crewmembers. Passengers onboard can make a donation to Food for the Poor's Haiti Relief Fund, via a charge to their onboard account; others can visit the organization's Web site to make a donation.

For more information on how to help Haiti, check out our list of worthy charities.

Source:msnbc.msn.com/

The Risk of Sending U.S. Troops to Haiti

President Barack Obama's decision to send 10,000 U.S. troops to provide muscle for the relief effort in chaotic, quake-ravaged Haiti was perhaps inevitable, but does not come without risks for the United States. From all accounts, public despair continues to mount as the distribution effort, hampered by destroyed roads and communications, lags behind the build-up of relief supplies. Hunger, thirst, and the spread of disease could easily bring out the machetes, tipping the scale into rioting and civil disorder. The island certainly has a history of it.

If that happens, with Haitian security forces in disarray, the challenge of restoring order will fall first on the 7,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping force. Consisting largely of Brazilian military, the U.N. Stabilisation Mission in Haiti -- known by its French acronym, MINUSTAH -- has been in Haiti since 2004 and has developed ties with the country and its people.

Even so, that's a thin line to confront widespread unrest, should it occur. The next line is the American military presence, currently taking up protective positions at the airport in Port-au-Prince and the damaged harbor, as well as helping with the relief effort.

Washington's top military man, Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, told reporters the troops' mission is humanitarian. But the line between humanitarian operations and security can be a thin one, and Mullen has also told the president that the soldiers' rules of engagement for the mission are to shoot only in self-defense.

When it comes to U.S. military operations in Haiti, history is not on the side of the United States. In 1915, Woodrow Wilson sent in the marines to Haiti, ostensibly to steady the country, then beset by coup and counter-coup, but actually to protect American business interests. Wilson took control of the Haitian National Bank and transferred $500,000 to the United States for "safekeeping." A virtual occupation, with the U.S. marine commander acting as provincial governor, remained in force until 1934.

While that memory made be distant and faded, many Haitians remember that in 1994, American troops led an intervention force to restore ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to power. From his exile in South Africa, Aristide has publicly volunteered to return to help his devastated country. No one has taken him up on his offer, but it is an unwelcome distraction for Obama's effort in Haiti. Of course, there emphatically are no dots to connect -- to use a trendy phrase -- between the U.S. military presence and Aristide's offer. Hopefully the Haitians will realize that.

Source:worldpoliticsreview.com/

Travis AFB medics set to deploy to Haiti

TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (AFNS) -- Fifty-eight medical staff assigned to the 60th Medical Group are set to provide medical and humanitarian relief to the earthquake ravaged nation of Haiti.

Personnel from the David Grant USAF Medical Center are bringing a 10-bed, completely portable "hospital in a box" known as an expeditionary medical support unit. The EMEDS will represent the first Air Force medical assets to be airlifted from Travis to Haiti.

Accompanying the EMEDS will be an elite three-member Critical Care Air Transportation Team - essentially a flying intensive care unit.

"Our time has come," said Col. (Dr.) Brian Hayes, the commander of the 60th Medical Group during remarks before the EMEDS team. "Years from now, when your family members will ask you what you did in the Air Force, I'm sure this will be one of the most memorable events in your lives and medical careers that you will look back on and tell your story."

The mission of an EMEDS team, which includes physicians, nurses, and a variety of medical technicians, is to rapidly deploy and provide forward stabilization, primary care, and dental services to support a population-at-risk of 3,000 to 5,000 people. The EMEDS+10 package and personnel being airlifted to Haiti are capable of providing medical and dental care for seven days in an austere environment without re-supply.

Critical Care Air Transport Teams assist in carrying out the mission of the Air Force's aeromedical evacuation system, which includes air transport of patients under medical supervision while delivering optimal care.

Once deployed, the CCATTs are a limited, rapidly-deployable resource available in selected situations to supplement the aeromedical system. They are engaged after a patient has received essential, stabilizing care by supported ground medical support personnel. CCATTs are able to continuously monitor and maintain stabilization of critically ill/injured/burned patients during patient movement activities in either an inter- or intra-theater aeromedical mission support role.

"Since we heard the first news reports coming out of Haiti, the 60th Medical Group has been planning and preparing for an official tasking," said Col. John Mansfield, the deputy commander of the 60th Medical Group. "In fact, our medical readiness unit here at DGMC did an outstanding job in getting a team assembled and medically prepared to deploy within a 12-hour timeframe."

The 10 beds in the EMEDS will provide complex medical and surgical inpatient capability consistent with the in-country evacuation policy, as determined by the on-scene commander. The core infrastructure provides additional ancillary support, medical equipment maintenance and facility management, although blood storage, collection and transfusion capability is limited.

An additional 25 personnel from DGMC are prepared to augment the initial EMEDS team after deployment. When combined, the 83-member staff can provide medical care for a 25-bed hospital capable of supporting 5,000 to 6,500 Haitian refugees.

"The surgeon general of the Air Force has called upon us to do a job, and we will not let him down," said Colonel Mansfield. "He is excited for us and wishes he could deploy with us to support a foreign nation that has suffered a major disaster. Our country and our leadership has put their faith in our ability to be ready. It's about saving lives ... that's our job."

Source:af.mil/

Marines Face Tough Task in Haiti

The flight deck of the USS Bataan is buzzing with activity as marines prepare to put boots on the ground in Haiti.

It's not war, but perhaps the worst humanitarian crisis young members of the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit will ever see.

"It'll go far beyond anything I saw in Iraq or anything you have seen in Iraq or Afghanistan," US Marine Capt. Edmund Clayton told a group of platoon and squad leaders.

Clayton urged leaders to prepare their marines for the emotional impact, so they can stay alert during the mission and hopefully return home without having nightmares or other lingering psychological effects.

That task may be especially difficult for LCpl. Junior Eugene, a marine translator originally from Haiti. With limited phone service in the aftermath of the earthquake, Eugene has no information on the status of his mother and nine siblings who still reside on the island.

"If I think about it too much, it's gonna affect the mission," Eugene said. "So what I do is I try to stay focused... It's not 100 percent that I'm gonna get a chance to see my family. But as long as the mission gets complete, I'm helping somebody."

Source:liveshots.blogs.foxnews.com/

Buried in Haiti rubble, U.S. dad wrote goodbyes

But with iPhone info, he treated his injuries and was rescued after 65 hours

The words on the pages of the plain black notebook are written in a semi-scrawl, punctuated by smears of blood — stark evidence of the desperation in which they were written.

Sitting with his wife, Christina, in Miami’s Jackson Memorial Hospital, Dan Woolley showed the notebook to TODAY’s Meredith Vieira via satellite hookup Tuesday. Trapped for 65 hours under tons of wreckage in the lobby of his hotel by Haiti’s Jan. 12 earthquake and knowing he could die, Woolley had written notes to his two young boys and his wife.



“I always wanted to survive, but I knew that was something that I couldn’t control. So I decided if I had to go, I wanted to leave some last notes for them,” Woolley said. Opening the book and fighting his emotions, he read an entry he addressed to his sons, Josh, 6, and Nathan, 3:



“I was in a big accident. Don’t be upset at God. He always provides for his children, even in hard times. I’m still praying that God will get me out, but He may not. But He will always take care of you.”



‘Boy, I cried’

Woolley had taken refuge in an elevator shaft, where he used an iPhone first-aid app to treat a compound fracture of his leg and a cut on his head. He had already used his digital SLR camera’s focusing light to illuminate his surroundings, and taken pictures of the wreckage to help find a safe place to wait to be rescued — or to die.



Writing the notes to his wife and children wasn’t easy, the deeply religious man said.



“Boy, I cried,” he admitted. “Obviously, no one wants to come to that point. I also didn’t want to just get found after having some time — God gave me some time — to think and to pray and to come to grips with the reality. I wanted to use that time to do everything I could for my family. If that could be surviving, get out, then I would. If it could be just to leave some notes that would help them in life, I would do that.”



Woolley had been working for Compassion International, a mission organization, making a film about the impact of poverty on the people of Haiti. He and a colleague, David Hames, had just returned to the Hotel Montana in Port-au-Prince from a day of filming when the earthquake struck.





TODAY

Stained with his blood, Dan Woolley’s notes contained messages of faith in God.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



“I just saw the walls rippling and just explosive sounds all around me,” Woolley told Vieira. “It all happened incredibly fast. David yelled out, ‘It’s an earthquake,’ and we both lunged and everything turned dark.”



Awaiting his fate

Woolley is nearsighted and lost his glasses in the quake. But by using the focusing light on his camera and taking pictures, he was able to figure out where he was and where to go. And thanks to the iPhone first-aid app he’d downloaded, he knew how to fashion a bandage and tourniquet for his leg and to stop the bleeding from his head wound. The app also warned him not to fall asleep if he felt he was going into shock, so he set his cell phone’s alarm clock to go off every 20 minutes.



And then for 65 hours, he waited for whatever fate had in store for him.



Video





Hunger spurs violence in Haiti quake aftermath

Jan. 19: U.N. peacekeepers quell looting with tear gas and rubber bullets as survivors grow more desperate and hungry. NBC’s Lester Holt reports from Port-au-Prince.

Today show





Woolley attributes his survival and rescue by a French rescue team to divine providence. One other member of Woolley’s team was also rescued, but as of Tuesday, Hames had not been found.



The Hotel Montana is also where a student group from Florida’s Lynn University was staying. Four of those students remain missing along with two faculty advisers.



“A lot of people were praying for safety for this trip, and I was working for Compassion International,” Woolley said. “A lot of prayers go out for the work that we do, so I believe that God was present with me and He decided he wanted me to survive, and so He was with me and helped me in those moments.”



Moments of despair

While Woolley concentrated on surviving, his wife, Christina, struggled to cling to hope — not always successfully.





TODAY

Trapped under six stories of rubble, Dan Woolley wrote farewell notes to his wife, Christina, and their two young sons.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



“I went through moments of despair,” Christina admitted to Vieira. “I gave up several times, and I thought I’d never see Dan again.”



But, like her husband, Christina said her faith sustained her. She said she had a certain knowledge that “wherever Dan was, God was holding Dan in the palm of his hand. I just didn’t know if that was in Haiti or in heaven. I was begging God that Dan would still be in Haiti.”



On Tuesday, four days after his rescue, Dan and Christina were eagerly looking forward to returning to their Colorado Springs home and reuniting with their sons.



“That’s going to be a very emotional experience,” said Dan, who just a few days ago was writing those blood-smeared notes to the boys. “I’ve spoken to them on the phone several times, but to just hug their heads and touch their curly hair and just love on them and wrestle with them — as long as they don’t hurt my leg — it’s going to be amazing, a dream come true.”

Source:today.msnbc.msn.com/i

Haitian gang members profit from disaster and confusion, re-establish presence in slums

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — "If you don't kill the criminals, they will all come back," a Haitian police officer shouts over a loudspeaker in the country's most notorious slum, imploring citizens to take justice into their own hands.

The call for vigilantes comes as influential gang leaders who escaped from a heavily damaged prison during the country's killer earthquake are taking advantage of a void left by police and peacekeepers focused on disaster relief.

In the sprawling Cite Soleil slum, gangsters are settling into the haunts they dominated before being locked up and resuming struggles for control that never really ended once they were inside the walls of the city's notorious main penitentiary.

"The trouble is starting," said Jean-Semaine Delice, a 51-year-old father from Cite Soleil. "People are starting to leave their homes to go to others."

As police urged residents to fight criminals themselves, Delice said, "I think it's a message we should listen to."

There is the potential for violence in any disaster zone where food and medical aid are unable to keep up with fast-growing hunger and mass casualties. But the danger is multiplied in Haiti, where self-designated rebels and freedom fighters - or simply neighbourhood toughs - have consistently threatened the country's fragile stability with a few weapons, some spare money for handouts and the ire of disaffected throngs.

"Even as we are digging bodies out of buildings, they are trying to attack our officers," Cite Soleil police inspector Aristide Rosemond said, surrounded by officers wielding automatic weapons.

Neighbourhood residents say three people died and several women were raped in a small-scale turf war that gangsters nicknamed "Belony" and "Bled" launched in the seaside slum in the days following last Tuesday's quake.

People who live here have been told not to count on security forces for help.

The Brazilian peacekeeping unit assigned to Cite Soleil lost 18 of its 145 soldiers in the earthquake. Ten perished when the "Blue House" - a landmark concrete tower converted into a U.N. post near the slum's entrance - collapsed, leaving weapons and equipment readily available to fast-acting looters.

The U.N. peacekeeping mission also lost its chief, deputy chief and acting police commander.

The police lost an uncounted number of personnel and equipment, leaving a group of officers who in large part are just recently recruited and trained.

"The problem is they have weapons ... so we cannot send the population or (just) any policemen" to capture them, Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive told The Associated Press on Monday.

Bob Perito, co-ordinator of Haiti programs for the Washington-based U.S. Institute of Peace think-tank , said concerns about the gangs are legitimate - in the long run.

In the more immediate future, "the gangs may be more of a nuisance," Perito said in an interview from his Washington office.

"They are not going to challenge the U.S. military," he said. "But when the U.S. decides the emergency is over and goes home, will the reconstituted U.N. peacekeeping force have the coherence necessary to suppress the problem?"

There are 1,700 U.S. troops on the ground in Haiti and 2,000 Marines off shore.

Security has always been precarious in Cite Soleil, although it is far calmer then the days when it became a war zone, during the 2004 ouster of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

On Monday, Brazilian peacekeepers drove from one food-distribution point to another as women, children and older men jockeyed to fill their buckets from a spouting broken water main. The gang members stayed out of sight.

The scene was drastically different Sunday, when a man robbed a motorcyclist's bag of rice with a .38-calibre pistol in broad daylight and residents swapped stories of gangs equipped with heavy automatic weapons coming out of hiding even as U.S. military cargo planes rumbled overhead.

Bellerive said he has met with U.N. peacekeepers, police and the newly arrived U.S. Army to discuss ways of combating the escaped convicts. Tactics thus far have included distributing photos and tracking the gangsters, which has led to some arrests.

But it is not a top priority, even though officials estimate as many as 4,000 prisoners escaped from the main prison.

"We are not worried about one or two guys," Brazilian battalion spokesman Col. Alan Sampaio Santos said. "Later on we can go after them."

Until then, much of the neighbourhood's security will be in the hands of local populations, who are forming night brigades and machete-armed mobs to fight bandits across the capital.

Source:AFP

Over 90 people rescued from Haiti debris since quake: UN

GENEVA, Jan 19 (AFP) - More than 90 people have been pulled out alive since international search and rescue teams began combing through the debris from last week's earthquake in Haiti, the United Nations said Tuesday.




"This is always good news. Our rescue and humanitarian efforts are now concentrated outside of Port-au-Prince," Elisabeth Byrs, spokeswoman of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, told AFP.



By Saturday, more than 70 people had been freed from under collapsed buildings by the teams, according to the UN. This means that about 20 people were rescued five or six days after the earthquake struck.



Besides the capital, the earthquake has wreaked massive damage on nearby cities, including Jacmel to the south of the capital, and Carrefour, Gressier and Leoganne, to the west.



OCHA said the immediate priorities for relief agencies remained "medical assistance, corpse management, shelter, water and food and sanitation."



While food and tents are arriving in the country, the UN agency said access to fuel -- essential for the transport of relief items -- continues to be an issue.



The World Food Programme is now planning to move 10,000 gallons of diesel fuel a day from neighbouring Dominican Republic to help relieve the situation, said OCHA in its latest situation report.

U.S. Air Force drops 55,000 pounds of food, water into Haiti

HAITI (CNN) -- Bypassing the gridlock of Haiti's main airport and congestion of roadways in the earthquake-ravaged country, the U.S. military delivered badly needed food and water on Monday by parachute.




A C-17 cargo plane left Pope Air Force Base in North Carolina shortly after noon, and three hours later dropped 40 pallets -- or "bundles" as the Air Force refers to them as -- holding bottled water and Meals, Ready-to-Eat, or MREs, on a field just north of the Port-au-Prince airport in Haiti.



It was the first airdrop of humanitarian supplies by the U.S. military into Haiti since the deadly earthquake there nearly a week ago.



"There are so many relief agencies funneling through the airport that it has kind of created a bottleneck," U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Leon Strickland told CNN en route to the drop point. "We're going to put things directly out of the air onto the ground and open up another distribution point north of the [Port-au-Prince] airfield."



The mission came just three days after Defense Secretary Robert Gates told reporters at the Pentagon that he thought such airdrops would pose serious problems, especially with crowd control.



See complete coverage of quake in Haiti







Video: Aid 'cannot come soon enough'



Video: Desperate for better medical care



Map, pictures of damaged sites



Gallery: Frantic rescues in a race against time

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Haiti

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"It seems to me that, without having any structure on the ground in terms of distribution, that an airdrop is simply going to lead to riots as people try and go after that stuff. So without any structure for distribution or to provide security when things become available, then it seems to me that's a formula for contributing to chaos rather than -- rather than preventing it," Gates said.



Strickland, commander of the airdrop mission, said safety of the Haitians was still a consideration, but the military had taken steps to insure control over the distribution.



iReport: People continue looking for loved ones in Haiti



"We are obviously concerned about the welfare of the people on the ground," he said, adding, "I'm confident that our members on the ground have created a secure environment for us to conduct airdrop operations."



This first flight carried a total of 9,600 bottles of water and 42,000 MRE packets. One MRE is usually considered one meal for a U.S. soldier in combat, but there is enough food in an MRE packet to make a small meal for two people.



Most of the food in an MRE can be eaten straight from the plastic vacuum-packed pouch. But if water is added to a chemical heater, a hot meal results.



Each pallet was rigged with a large parachute as well as special corrugated cardboard padding that would minimize damage to the water and food when the load hit the ground.



One of the supervisors on the rigging crew at the Army's Fort Bragg, which is adjacent to Pope Air Force Base, said they wanted to make sure as much of the aid, especially the water, survived the airdrop, but they predicted as many as 1-in-10 of the bottles would break on impact. The MREs are much less susceptible to damage during airdrops.



Get latest developments on situation in Haiti



As the C-17 approached Haiti, the pilot dropped to 600 feet above the ground and opened the huge rear ramp. When a computer in the cockpit calculated that the plane was over the drop zone, a signal was given, the pilot pitched the plane upward and the huge straps and gate that held the cargo in place were released. Within seconds, gravity pulled all 40 pallets out of the plane and the parachutes automatically deployed.



In less than a minute the food and water was on the ground, ready to be unpacked and distributed.



Maj. Jeff "Ratdog" Daniels, the pilot of the C-17, said the U.S. military teams waiting for the airdrop on the ground reported all 40 parachutes opened properly and all the bundles landed on target in the planned drop zone.



CNN's Impact Your World



While this airdrop is a first for the military effort in Haiti, the Air Force is well-practiced in this type of mission. Almost daily, Air Force cargo planes drop food and water into remote areas of Afghanistan for U.S. troops fighting there.



Several of the young military personnel CNN spoke to were pleased to be taking part this part of the huge humanitarian mission.



Complete coverage on Haiti



Even though she joined the military while the United States was embroiled in two wars, Pvt. Caitlyn Lopez of the 18th Airborne Corps said "this is what I joined the Army for." She was among dozens of soldiers at Fort Bragg who hand-packed and rigged the bundles of humanitarian aid that were dropped Monday.



The military planned to use Monday's flight as a test to see if airdrops would be a practical and effective way to continue to deliver aid. The decision on whether to do more airdrops not immediately made, but just after returning to Pope AFB, Strickland said of the mission, "It was a success."

Source:edition.cnn.com/