The UN headquarters is seen in this aerial view taken after an earthquake in Port-au- Prince, in this photo taken Wednesday. UN Photo Logan Abassi / Reuters
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has appealed to frustrated Haitians to be patient over efforts to bring them relief from last Tuesday's earthquake.
Aid workers say relief efforts are being slowed by bottlenecks, but food and water are finally reaching some parts of the capital Port-au-Prince.
Survivors of the earthquake have become desperate as they wait for aid.
Many are trying to leave the city, and there are security concerns amid reports of looting.
Lt Gen Ken Keen of the US Southern Command said that while streets were largely calm there had been an increase in violence.
The AFP news agency quoted one of its photographers as saying police had opened fire on looters in a Port-au-Prince market, killing at least one of them.
| UN LOSSES IN HAITI • 37 UN staff confirmed dead, more than 300 missing • Includes Special Representative Hedi Annabi, deputy Luiz Carlos da Costa and acting police commissioner Doug Coates • UN HQ in the Christopher Hotel and other buildings collapsed in the quake • Believed to be the biggest single loss of life in the UN's history |
Feeding 'challenge'
Mr Ban spoke in Port-au-Prince after visiting the ruins of the UN mission, where several senior UN staff were killed. Among the dead were the special representative and his deputy. Hundreds of staff are still missing.
However, one Danish UN worker was pulled alive from the rubble of the building on Sunday afternoon. Four other people were rescued in Port-au-Prince during the day.
"I appeal to the Haitian people to be more patient," Mr Ban said, after seeing hungry and homeless people vent their frustration outside.
He added that he knew people were angry, but said deliveries of aid were now being made in a more efficient and co-ordinated manner.
He said providing daily food to two million people, as the UN has pledged, would be a "huge challenge".
The UN has launched an appeal for $562m (£346m) intended to help three million people for six months, most of whom are thought to need emergency relief.
Meanwhile first reports from the epicentre of the earthquake suggest the damage is even more dramatic than in the capital.
The BBC's Mark Doyle in Leogane, west of Port-au-Prince, described the scene as "apocalyptic", with thousands left homeless and almost every building destroyed.
Roads still blocked
AT THE SCENE In this highly Christian country, there are still songs of praise being sung, but also prayers for the dead and dying. Relief has started trickling through, with NGOs, the UN and the US military getting food and water to those who need it. But demand has so far outstripped supply, as the distribution points become quickly overwhelmed by the numbers of people clamouring for supplies. Bottlenecks still exist between getting the aid, which is arriving in large amounts, to the people who desperately need it. |
Correspondents say although the amount of supplies getting through is still small, there is a sense of movement at last.
The UN World Food Programme has been handing out aid packages containing food, while UK charity Oxfam has been distributing water.
US troops said they had set up their first foothold outside the airport to deliver aid carried in by helicopters.
But many victims are still not receiving any aid, as the airport remains a bottleneck. UN Humanitarian Coordinator Kim Bolduc says getting supplies out to them from the planes is still a major hurdle.
"The Haitian airport now is overwhelmed," said UN Assistant Secretary General for Peacekeeping Operations, Edmond Mulet.
The port is badly damaged, and many roads still blocked by corpses and debris.
David Wimhurst, a spokesman for the UN peacekeeping force in Haiti, said aid was being delivered as quickly as possible.
"Aid is going out but it's simply impossible in 24 hours to bring in enough aid to instantly feed all these people, many of whom are in places that are inaccessible," he said.
The Haitian and Dominican Republic governments are planning an alternative 130km (80 miles) humanitarian road corridor to deliver relief supplies from the southern Dominican town of Barahona, the UN reports.
The UN has warned about fuel shortages, which it says could affect humanitarian operations.
"Fuel is the key issue," Elisabeth Byrs, a spokeswoman for the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs, told the BBC. "We need fuel to bring in supplies and carry the wounded."
Estimates of how many people died following the 7.0 magnitude earthquake on Tuesday have varied.
The Pan American Health Organization put the death toll at 50,000-100,000, while Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive said 100,000 "would seem a minimum".
A UN official has said aid workers are dealing with a disaster "like no other" in UN memory because the country had been "decapitated".
Three ministers and several senators are reported to have been killed.
The US has launched what President Barack Obama called "one of the largest relief efforts in its history" following the quake.