Haitians are fleeing the ruins of Port-au-Prince, hoping to find food and shelter outside the quake-ravaged capital, as humanitarian workers and soldiers desperately try to bring aid and stability to the city.
"We've got no more food and no more house, so leaving is the only thing to do," Livena Livel, 22, fleeing with her one-year-old daughter and six other relatives, told The Associated Press.
Latest updates:
- Death toll soars to 200,000
- UN chief calls for 2,000 more peacekeepers
- European Union offers long-term aid
Hundreds of thousands of survivors are unable to meet their basic needs, nearly a week after the devastating Jan. 12 quake that has plunged the country into chaos.
Roughly 200,000 people have died, many in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince. Officials say they have so far recovered about 70,000 bodies.
Then there are the survivors, who need food, water and other supplies, all of which are in short supply. It's estimated 1.5 million people have been left homeless, their homes reduced to rubble.
There are so many people in need that the World Food Program intends to build a tent camp capable of housing 100,000 people on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince, said the agency's country director, Myrta Kaulard.
In the capital, survivors scavenged for items of value -- especially toothpaste, which people use to fend off the stench of decaying bodies under rubble and in the streets.
Survivor Jean-Pierre Junior used a wooden plank with nails to guard a prized bottle of rum he found.
"I am drinking as much as I can. It gives courage," he said.
Some survivors didn't like the presence of foreign troops in their devastated country, questioning how much they were helping.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon wants another 2,000 peacekeepers and 1,500 UN police officers deployed to Haiti.
There are already 7,000 UN peacekeepers and 2,100 international police officers working in Haiti, along with thousands of U.S. Marines and soldiers from around the world, including Canada.
Some 2,000 U.S. Marines were expected to land in Haiti on Monday, tripling the American representation in the aftermath of the disaster. Two more Canadian naval ship are also to arrive as soon as today, with another 1,000 Canadians soldiers on their way in the coming days.
Small victories
Despite the stresses and the significant challenges, there were some small victories.
CTV's Washington Bureau Chief, Paul Workman, said the UN World Food Program had been able to feed 95,000 Haitians at eight different locations, up tens of thousands from the day before.
"It's still not enough, of course, and there is still a huge bottleneck at the airport here," Workman told CTV's Canada AM, describing the problems getting supplies into a country with damaged infrastructure and chaotic streets.
U.S. soldiers have taken control of the backed-up airport in Port-au-Prince and are working to prioritize the flow of supplies coming into the city.
"They say they are letting water in first, then equipment to be able to distribute the food and water they have, followed by food, followed by medicine," Workman said.
"So, there is a system. They have about 100 slots a day for airplanes, they are getting close to that."
Later Monday, the UN World Food Program said U.S. officials agreed to give humanitarian flights priority in landings.
The European Union Commission also announced US$474 million in emergency and long-term aid to Haiti. Member states also poured some $132 million into emergency aid.
"The impact of this earthquake is magnified because it has hit a country that was already desperately poor and historically volatile," said British Development Secretary Douglas Alexander.
Improbable survival stories
Yesterday, more survivors were pulled from the rubble in Port-au-Prince, a seemingly improbable event some five days after the quake.
A man and a woman were found alive inside a collapsed supermarket, three others were rescued from the rubble of the same building. U.S. search-and-rescue teams found a 16-year-old Dominican girl who had been trapped inside a three-storey hotel in downtown Port-au-Prince. And inside the crumbled UN headquarters, a Danish staff member was also found alive, just 15 minutes after the UN secretary-general visited the site.
UN spokesperson Elisabeth Byrs said it was possible people could survive until today.
"There are still people living" in collapsed buildings, Byrs said. "Hope continues."
Rescuers continued searching for signs of life on Monday.
Seventy lives have been saved by 1,700 rescue workers since the Jan. 12 quake.
With files from The Associated Press
