UN launches Haiti earthquake relief appeal

The UN has launched an appeal for USD 562mn to help victims of Tuesday's devastating earthquake in Haiti. UN humanitarian chief John Holmes said the funds were intended to help three million people for six months. UN launches Haiti earthquake relief appeal The earthquake has left tens of thousands of people dead, and rescuers are continuing an increasingly desperate search for survivors. Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she would travel to Haiti on Saturday. The BBC's Matthew Price, outside the ruins of a nursing college in the capital Port-au-Prince, says he has been told by a female member of staff that there could be 260 dead bodies and up to 25 people still alive under the rubble. A team of Brazilian rescuers is trying to gain access to the victims but progress is painfully slow, our correspondent adds. Haitian Interior Minister Paul Antoine Bien-Aime told Reuters news agency that 50,000 bodies had already been collected. "We anticipate there will be between 100,000 and 200,000 dead in total, although we will never know the exact number," he said. The Pan American Health Organization has estimated that the death toll could be as high as 100,000, while the UN said about 300,000 had been made homeless. The U.S. has announced it will grant leave to remain to thousands of illegal Haitian migrants living there due to the humanitarian crisis in their country. The chief of the homeland security department, Janet Napolitano, said they would be allowed to stay and work, initially for 18 months. Aid workers have been grappling with logistical problems as they attempt to distribute aid. The port is too damaged to use and roads are blocked by debris, although the main route from the Dominican Republic is now clear. At the country's main airport, which is small and has been filled to capacity, U.S. authorities took temporary control to help distribute aid more quickly. Correspondents say survivors seem increasingly desperate and angry as bottlenecks and infrastructure damage delay relief efforts. Holmes, who heads the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha), said a massive effort was being mounted and officials were "straining every nerve" to help. "This is a huge and a horrifying catastrophe, the full consequences of which we do not know," he said. He said almost half of the appeal money would be for emergency food aid, with amounts of between USD 20-50mn for health, water and sanitation, nutrition, emergency shelter, early recovery and agriculture. A total of about USD 360mn has been pledged so far for the relief effort, but only part of this sum will be included in the emergency appeal. Holmes earlier told reporters that 30 percent of buildings throughout Port-au-Prince had been damaged, with the figure at 50 percent in some areas. Many there have spent a third day without food and shelter in the ruined capital, though UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who is due to visit Haiti on Sunday, said distribution of food and medicine was under way.

UN launches Haiti earthquake relief appeal

The earthquake has left tens of thousands of people dead, and rescuers are continuing an increasingly desperate search for survivors.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she would travel to Haiti on Saturday.

The BBC's Matthew Price, outside the ruins of a nursing college in the capital Port-au-Prince, says he has been told by a female member of staff that there could be 260 dead bodies and up to 25 people still alive under the rubble.

A team of Brazilian rescuers is trying to gain access to the victims but progress is painfully slow, our correspondent adds.

Haitian Interior Minister Paul Antoine Bien-Aime told Reuters news agency that 50,000 bodies had already been collected.

"We anticipate there will be between 100,000 and 200,000 dead in total, although we will never know the exact number," he said.

The Pan American Health Organization has estimated that the death toll could be as high as 100,000, while the UN said about 300,000 had been made homeless.

The U.S. has announced it will grant leave to remain to thousands of illegal Haitian migrants living there due to the humanitarian crisis in their country.

The chief of the homeland security department, Janet Napolitano, said they would be allowed to stay and work, initially for 18 months.

Aid workers have been grappling with logistical problems as they attempt to distribute aid.

The port is too damaged to use and roads are blocked by debris, although the main route from the Dominican Republic is now clear.

At the country's main airport, which is small and has been filled to capacity, U.S. authorities took temporary control to help distribute aid more quickly.

Correspondents say survivors seem increasingly desperate and angry as bottlenecks and infrastructure damage delay relief efforts.

Holmes, who heads the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha), said a massive effort was being mounted and officials were "straining every nerve" to help.

"This is a huge and a horrifying catastrophe, the full consequences of which we do not know," he said.

He said almost half of the appeal money would be for emergency food aid, with amounts of between USD 20-50mn for health, water and sanitation, nutrition, emergency shelter, early recovery and agriculture.

A total of about USD 360mn has been pledged so far for the relief effort, but only part of this sum will be included in the emergency appeal.

Holmes earlier told reporters that 30 percent of buildings throughout Port-au-Prince had been damaged, with the figure at 50 percent in some areas.

Many there have spent a third day without food and shelter in the ruined capital, though UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who is due to visit Haiti on Sunday, said distribution of food and medicine was under way.