Global General
More troops, aid go to Haiti, but hunger persists
(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-01-19 06:31
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Six days after the quake, dozens of rescue crews were still working to rescue victims trapped under piles of concrete and debris.
"There are still people living" in collapsed buildings, UN humanitarian spokeswoman Elisabeth Byears told The Associated Press. "Hope continues."
Stunned by images of the disaster, the European Union Commission said it would contribute euro330 million ($474 million) in emergency and long-term aid to Haiti.
EU member states also poured euro92 million ($132 million) in emergency aid, including 20 million pounds ($32.7 million) from Britain and euro10 million ($14.4 million) from France, which also said it was willing for forgive Haiti's euro40 million ($55.7 million) debt.
"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.
US officials, meanwhile, agreed with UN officials on a system to grant priority to humanitarian flights, responded to criticism that military and rescue flights had sometimes been first in line, according to the UN.
Some countries and aid groups such as Geneva-based Doctors Without Borders had complained planes filled with doctors and medical supplies had been forced to land in the neighboring Dominican Republic and come in by road, delaying urgent care for injured quake victims by two days.
The problem may be eased by US expansion of the cramped airport's capacity.
The US military spokesman in Haiti, Cmdr. Chris Lounderman, said about 100 flights a day are now landing, up from 60 last week. "The ramp was designed for 16 large aircraft," he said. "At times there were up to 40. That's why there was gridlock."
In Paris, French Cooperation Minister Alain Joyandet expressed concern about the major US military role in the country, saying it should be clarified: "This is about helping Haiti, not about occupying Haiti," said Joyandet, who last week complained about US handling of the airport.
But other French officials were conciliatory.
"You have a small airport ... which was devastated by the earthquake and you have hundred of planes which want to land," said French UN Ambassador Gerard Araud said. "So it's totally normal that there are delays, but I think that the situation has dramatically improved."
He said it's still more important to repair the damaged seaport _ a task US officials are working on. "In terms of aid, it's the port where we can bring most of the aid," he said.
Former US President Bill Clinton, who arrived with his daughter, toted crates of bottled water at the airport and shook hands with doctors at the capital's General Hospital, crammed with about 1,500 patients. He promised that his foundation would provide medicine and a generator so that doctors there can work through the night.
Clinton is the UN special envoy for Haiti and he has joined former US President George W. Bush in leading a campaign for donations to help the country.
A Pentagon spokesman, Navy Capt. John Kirby, said in Washington that the United States expects to have 4,000 to 5,000 US troops in Haiti by midweek and the same number at sea, with the hospital ship USNS Comfort arriving by Wednesday.
At the United Nations, meanwhile, the secretary-general said he needs the extra troops for six months, and the police would likely stay longer. US deputy ambassador Alejandro Wolff said he expects the Security Council to approve the increase by Wednesday.
UN peacekeeping chief Alain LeRoy told The Associated Press that the Dominican Republic has already pledged an 800-strong battalion and the UN has other offers. France's Araud said European Union foreign ministers agreed Monday to send some more police.
