HELP THOSE IN HAITI, TEXT "HAITI" TO 90999

TEXT "HAITI" TO 90999

There is still hope,

Don't give up on the people of Haiti!!!

Port-au-Prince, Haiti (CNN) -- Haitian authorities have recorded more than 70,000 deaths since last week's magnitude 7 earthquake outside Port-au-Prince, the country's prime minister said Tuesday.

Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive said that at least 72,000 bodies have been recovered since the quake. That figure does not include bodies buried by families or collected by the UN peacekeeping mission in Haiti.

Some death toll estimates for the earthquake, which struck just south of Port-au-Prince, range from 100,000 to 150,000 in Port-au-Prince alone.

At least one person was pulled alive from rubble in Port-au-Prince on Tuesday, seven days after the earthquake. Ena Zizi was rescued from rubble either at or near the national cathedral, CNN's Anderson Cooper reported.

Her son, Maxime Janvier, told CNN that he never gave up hope that she'd be found.
"We were praying a lot for that to happen," he told CNN on Tuesday afternoon, about 15 minutes after he learned she'd been rescued.

A week after the January 12 earthquake, much of of the Haitian capital lay in heaps of rubble. Roads remained damaged and a main port was still closed. Food, water and other aid has arrived, but some say the distribution of supplies is slow.

Despite challenges, the situation is improving, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said. He announced Tuesday that the United Nations Security Council has approved a proposal to send an additional 2,000 soldiers and 1,500 police officers to the small country.

Capacity at Port-au-Prince's airport is improving, and the port is expected to be reopened next week, Ban said. New corridors have been cleared on land, he said.
The United Nations estimates that 3 million people need of food, water, shelter and medical assistance.

About 2,000 US troops are on the ground in Haiti, and more than 5,000 are just off-shore on US ships, said Maj. Gen. Daniel Allyn, the deputy commander of Joint Task Force Unified Response.
He said the US military anticipated eventually having an "aggregate strength" about 10,000 troops.

Scores of US troops were in helicopters that landed Tuesday on the grounds of the ruined presidential palace, drawing dozens of Haitians to the compound's wrought-iron gates.

After arriving on the palace grounds, some of the US 82nd Airborne soldiers who jumped from the helicopters moved to the capital's general hospital, which is without electricity or running water, a CNN crew reported.

"Our primary purpose is in getting to the population, whether it be the distribution of water, food, or, in this case, where they've got medical treatment going on and they're overwhelmed," Lt. Gen. P.K. Keen, head of U.S. Southern Command, told CNN at the hospital. He said the troops were providing some security there.

Shortly after they arrived, several men carried in a stretcher bearing an injured woman -- a reminder that many are still in dire medical need, even a week after the 7.0-magnitude earthquake.

Doctors at the hospital used vodka to sterilize the limited medical instruments because there was no rubbing alcohol. Treated patients lay outside with tents made of tarps and blankets providing some shelter.

Formerly vacant buildings were used for treating patients, as the main hospital building had been deemed unsafe.

"We have run out of IVs and IV needles and IV fluids," said Dr. Mark Hyman of Partners in Health. "We've run out of surgical supplies. We have to wash with vodka and we have to operate with hacksaws because we don't have enough operating tools," he said. Those at the hospital were hopeful electricity and water would be restored later Tuesday.

Partners in Health, among a handful of non-governmental agencies at the hospital, has been working in Haiti for more than 20 years. Before the earthquake, it ran 10 hospitals and has hundreds of doctors and nurses, mostly Haitians, on staff.

The military is going to help with organization and with supplies, he said, emphasizing that he has not experienced any security problems.

"What they want to do is get this hospital operational again," he said. "They want to help us airlift patients out to hospitals where there's plenty of doctors, plenty of supplies, but no patients.

"They're going to help us get electricity, they're going to help us get food. They're going to help us get tents, they're going to help us get all the operating supplies in. ... We don't have the infrastructure to take back this hospital, rebuild it, and that's what they're going to help us do."

Some Haitians welcomed the arrival of US troops. But one man said military force was not needed -- more relief supplies were.

Such frustration appeared to mount Monday, as hundreds of Haitians broke into a damaged store in downtown Port-au-Prince, stripping it clean and then moving on to another store a half-block away.

"Of course on TV we see violent incidents and looting," said Alain Le Roy, the United Nations peacekeeping director.

However, he said, "There is not widespread looting all over the place."
Haitian President René Préval will address the nation Tuesday, according to a spokesman for the prime minister.

The flow of supplies into Haiti has been hampered by congested roads and the crowded airport, and thousands of survivors have been left to scrounge for food and emergency aid.

Although some officials said hope for survivors under the rubble was fading, Ban said Tuesday that there were still lives to be saved. Some 90 victims have been saved by 43 international rescue teams, made up of some 1,700 people, he said.

The US State Department announced Tuesday that 28 Americans have been confirmed dead in Haiti -- including the cultural affairs officer at the US Embassy.

A US Air Force C-17 circumvented airport congestion by dropping 55,000 pounds -- about 40 pallets -- of bottled water and food into Haiti on Monday, the first U.S. airdrop of supplies.

Maj. Gen. Daniel Allyn, the deputy commander of Joint Task Force Unified Response, said Tuesday that US forces intend to carry out more aerial drops, but it was not immediately clear when those would occur.

Allyn also said the US military was assessing other runways to use in order to relieve congestion at the Port-au-Prince airport. Two such runways were going to be used over the next day or so, he said.

The United States was conducting medical operations on board a vessel off the coast, the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson. And the USNS Comfort, a hospital ship, is due to arrive off Haiti's coast Wednesday morning, Allyn said.

Outside of Haiti, people have contributed more than $220 million to major US relief groups, according to The Chronicle of Philanthropy, a newspaper covering nonprofit organizations.

Nearly $9 million of that money was raised on CNN's "Larry King Live" on Monday night in a star-studded live fundraising event.

Also, a temporary protected status has been established for Haitian nationals who were in the United States as of the day of the earthquake.

US Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano estimated that 100,000 to 200,000 Haitian nationals are in the United States illegally. The temporary status allows them to stay for 18 months, authorizing them to work and send remittances back to Haiti, she said last week.

Dozens of Haitian children rescued from an orphanage arrived Tuesday in Pennsylvania to be placed with foster families until adoptions are finalized. Most of the children's adoption cases were at the end of the bureaucratic process before the earthquake struck (SOURCE).

as of 01/20/2010 7:17 AM