Gunfire rings out...
Gunfire rings out from Haitian apocalypse
Posted 1 hour 17 minutes ago
Updated 1 hour 4 minutes ago
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Haitian officials have warned the overall death toll may top 100,000. (AFP: Thony Belizaire)
Video: Haitians struggle after quake (7pm TV News NSW) Video: Aussies fear for their Haitian relatives (7pm TV News NSW) Video: Aid floods into Haiti (7pm TV News NSW) Video: Aid operation unfolds in Haiti (7pm TV News NSW) Video: Haitians 'will band together' (ABC News) Video: Girl alive under rubble (ABC News) Video: Craig McMurtrie in Haiti (ABC News) Audio: Frustration grows over wait for aid in Haiti (PM) Audio: Three million Haitians affected by quake: Red Cross (PM) Audio: Survivors need urgent shelter, supplies: aid agency (PM) Audio: US criticised over slow military aid response (PM) Related Story: 'Resilient' Haitians will band together Related Story: Angry Haitians block roads with corpses: witness Related Story: Bottleneck paralyses Haiti relief efforts Related Story: White House condemns pastor's 'devil pact' comments Related Story: NZ girls confirmed dead in Haiti quake Related Story: Australians urged to dig deep for Haiti Related Story: Qld man awaits word from family in Haiti Related Link: International Red Cross appeal Related Link: Twitter list: accounts sharing news from Haiti Related Link: Haiti quake: Special coverage Sporadic gunfire is echoing across Haiti's capital, as survivors of Wednesday's massive earthquake endure a third night on the streets with little food, water or medical supplies.
Anger and despair is mounting in Port-au-Prince, with rotting bodies littering the streets and little sign of desperately needed international aid for the three million people affected by the disaster.
Much of the aid remains at the Haitian capital's airport and some relief workers and officials say they are too scared to leave the security of the airport until day breaks.
Many on the ground in the Haitian capital say security is desperately needed, as most of the most members of the city's police force are busy searching for their own relatives.
There are reports of looting and scuffles have broken out as helicopters drop food over parts of the city.
As part of its aid effort, the United States is sending in more than 5,000 troops.
North America correspondent Lisa Millar is embedded aboard the US aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson, which is ready to sail for Haiti from the Guantanamo Bay naval base.
One of the questions over the USS Carl Vinson's deployment is that what is probably more needed is the comfort hospital ship that still sits off the coast of Baltimore in the north east United States.
It will apparently not arrive off Haiti for another week.
There has been some suggestion the US been slow to act, but the military and logistical challenges are extraordinary.
Some of the injured are already being brought to Guantanamo Bay, with up to 24 people being airlifted there and treated in the past 24 hours.
US State Department spokesman PJ Crowley says eight search-and-rescue teams with a total of 260 people are on the ground in Port-au-Prince and 30 countries have pledged or already sent help.
China, France, Iceland, the US and Venezuela are among those with teams in situ.
"Not only is the United States's commitment to Haiti growing, but also the international commitment as well," Mr Crowley said.
The US had also taken over air traffic control at the swamped airport which was now operating around the clock, he said. However, flights were delayed as staff struggled to unload supplies.
Haitians were also angered they had had no word from their leaders.
'Nothing is coming'
One group trying to free a man trapped in the rubble of the tax office looked up wearily at the planes flying overhead.
"We hear on the radio that rescue teams are coming from the outside, but nothing is coming. We only have our fingers to look for survivors," said Jean-Baptiste Lafontin Wilfried.
Despite the launch of the massive aid operation, there is no sign of heavy-lifting equipment among the rubble even as tons of material and badly needed supplies flooded the airport.
The rapidly decomposing bodies are also posing a major problem.
Port-au-Prince resident Jacky Dodard says corpse disposal has been random and chaotic.
"What is happening is that there is no help in the streets. Personally, I haven't seen any help," she said.
"So everybody is trying to drop their dead bodies somewhere. They don't know what to do with the dead bodies."
Haitian officials have warned the overall death toll may top 100,000 as a result of the powerful quake that ripped across the poorest nation in the Americas.
The International Red Cross said the quake, the largest in the Caribbean island nation in more than 150 years, has killed between 40,000 and 50,000 people.
"If international aid doesn't come, the situation will deteriorate quickly. We need water and food urgently," said Haitian survivor Lucille, still dazed by the scenes of devastation and carnage.
'More doctors, fewer journalists'
Witnesses say there has already been some looting in the city.
"More doctors, fewer journalists," one man yelled angrily, shaking his fists at a foreign media crew.
Haitian native and hip hop star Wyclef Jean has described conditions as "the apocalypse" and said Haiti needed to raise $1 million a day to survive.
"We spent the day picking up dead bodies. All day that's what we did. There's so much bodies in the streets that the morgues are filled up, the cemeteries are filled up," he told Fox News.
Doctors were struggling to treat the vast numbers of sick and injured, with medical charity Medecins Sans Frontiers speaking of patients with "severe traumas, head wounds, crushed limbs" and burns.
The United Nations says 36 of its staffers had been killed in the worst disaster in the global body's history. Another 188 were still missing.
US President Barack Obama sought to lift up a despairing people, who face acute shortages of food, water and shelter, offering $US100 million in immediate assistance.
"To the people of Haiti, we say clearly and with conviction, you will not be forsaken. You will not be forgotten," he said.
Mr Obama and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, along with Brazil and Canada and other concerned nations, are planning to hold an international conference on Haiti's reconstruction, the French president's office said.
"People throughout the world want to help," said UN chief Ban Ki-moon.
"One of our biggest challenges will be to help them to help Haiti to the utmost," he said.
