It is feared thousands of people have died in an earthquake in Haiti. The earthquake had a magnitude of seven, and there were a number of aftershocks.
Up to 10,000 US troops will be on the ground or off the coast of Haiti by Monday to help deal with the earthquake aid effort, US defence officials say. It is feared thousands of people have died in the earthquake.
FRIDAY 15 JANUARY - PAUL BERTONI, PETIONVILLE, HAITI People have been sleeping in the street.
BARBARA JONES, MILTON KEYNES, UK
Update from Barbara, a Haitian who has been in the UK for eight months
One of my relatives in the US managed to speak to a member of our family in Haiti. She got through by chance on the phone, we had all been trying since the earthquake happened.
She said my aunt and my cousins are OK. They are now living in the street in Port-au-Prince so they won't get hurt by falling buildings, but at least they're OK.
We still don't know about my mother. She lives outside the capital, in Gonaives which was badly affected by hurricanes in 2008. It's even hard to get hold of her at the best of times.
My wife, Mimi, is stuck under the rubble of a supermarket in the Delmas area of Port-au-Prince.
On Wednesday we heard that Mimi had managed to use a blackberry phone to text her cousin in Haiti. I haven't been able to talk to her to confirm this. I've also heard that someone managed to speak to Mimi on Thursday, at the time she was stuck with another 25 people. But I just I don't know whether this is true.
What I do know is that her car is still parked at the supermarket.
From talking to rescue teams, I'm hearing that there are possibly 50 people in the rubble there. It's difficult to get to them because of the lack of heavy equipment - the ceiling of the supermarket is just too hard to break through, and there aren't enough rescue dogs in the area either so the rescue teams don't know exactly where to dig.
I'm hearing many conflicting reports from Haiti and we're powerless to do anything. I feel desperate.
PAUL BERTONI, PETIONVILLE, HAITI People have been sleeping in the street.
I live in the Dominican Republic but came here soon after the earthquake to look for my relatives. I am in Petionville. It is probably one of the least affected areas of the city. I have been driving in the streets all day, trying to find friends, relatives, looking for food, water, fuel, taking pictures.
I live in the Dominican Republic but came here soon after the earthquake to look for my relatives. I am in Petionville. It is probably one of the least affected areas of the city. I have been driving in the streets all day, trying to find friends, relatives, looking for food, water, fuel, taking pictures.
The streets of Port-au-Prince are filled with dead bodies covered in sheets. It looks like the entire city structure is collapsed. There is still no phone communication, no electricity, no public transportation.
The streets of Port-au-Prince are filled with dead bodies covered in sheets. It looks like the entire city structure is collapsed. There is still no phone communication, no electricity, no public transportation.
People stay and sleep right in the streets. Some have no houses to go back to, some are afraid of another quake.
People stay and sleep right in the streets. Some have no houses to go back to, some are afraid of another quake.
There is no kind of rescue from the public services nor the humanitarian aid. People are trapped under the rubble and slowly dying.
There is no kind of rescue from the public services nor the humanitarian aid. People are trapped under the rubble and slowly dying.
He said he had managed to pull out his three daughters, but not his son Paul Bertoni in Petionville
He said he had managed to pull out his three daughters, but not his son Paul Bertoni in Petionville
The air is starting to smell like dead bodies. People are wearing masks as they walk the street.
The air is starting to smell like dead bodies. People are wearing masks as they walk the street.
The population is extraordinarily calm and quiet. Still stunned by the magnitude of the blow.
The population is extraordinarily calm and quiet. Still stunned by the magnitude of the blow.
A lot of people are going up and down the street. I imagine they are looking for resources, looking for their relatives.
A lot of people are going up and down the street. I imagine they are looking for resources, looking for their relatives.
At around 10pm last night, a neighbour of a relative we went looking for asked us if we could help him get his 13-year-old son from under the rubble. He said he had managed to pull out his three daughters, but not his son.
At around 10pm last night, a neighbour of a relative we went looking for asked us if we could help him get his 13-year-old son from under the rubble. He said he had managed to pull out his three daughters, but not his son.
He pointed to a spot under the rubble and asked me if I could see the boy's hand. There were three little fingers in the middle of the concrete and the metal. I said I couldn't help.
He pointed to a spot under the rubble and asked me if I could see the boy's hand. There were three little fingers in the middle of the concrete and the metal. I said I couldn't help.
He asked if I could broadcast the news that his son was dead on the radio, so that the boy's mother could know, as she he was not at Port-au-Prince at the time
He asked if I could broadcast the news that his son was dead on the radio, so that the boy's mother could know, as she he was not at Port-au-Prince at the time
FRIDAY 15 JANUARY - JOEL DRESSE, MIAMI, US
JOEL DRESSE, MIAMI, US
I live in Haiti but was on a business trip to the United States. I am trying to go back to Port-au-Prince to reunite with my parents. I am flying to the Dominican Republic and will then go to Haiti by taxi. It will take me from eight to nine hours.
I live in Haiti but was on a business trip to the United States. I am trying to go back to Port-au-Prince to reunite with my parents. I am flying to the Dominican Republic and will then go to Haiti by taxi. It will take me from eight to nine hours.
My parents live very near to the Caribbean Supermarket which fell down in Petionville. I managed to talk to them after hundreds of attempts over the phone.
My parents live very near to the Caribbean Supermarket which fell down in Petionville. I managed to talk to them after hundreds of attempts over the phone.
They told me there is no water or food. They took around 200 neighbours into the house and they are sleeping by the swimming pool. They can take water from it and boil it and use tablets, but there is almost no food. My mother says she can still hear people crying for help.
They told me there is no water or food. They took around 200 neighbours into the house and they are sleeping by the swimming pool. They can take water from it and boil it and use tablets, but there is almost no food. My mother says she can still hear people crying for help.
We are bringing 200 pounds of dried food with us, but that cannot possibly feed 200 people.
We are bringing 200 pounds of dried food with us, but that cannot possibly feed 200 people.
THURSDAY 14 JANUARY - KATHY JOHNSON, READING, UK
We are desperately worried because my uncle Pierre Celestin and six of his children are missing in Port-au-Prince.
The area is devastated. The church and graveyard where my grandfather is buried has been destroyed and I am stuck here thousands of miles away.
I feel so frustrated, all I want to do is to jump on a plane and go to help
I feel so frustrated, all I want to do is to jump on a plane and go to help.
I have several family members in New York, and they are not coping well. My aunt is going out with the Red Cross to help, and hopefully find them.
We have to believe that my uncle and as his sons are still alive.
I've been constantly trying to phone through to Haiti. I am doing everything I can to try to gather information - I'm on Facebook and Twitter all the time. Someone, somewhere must know something about them.
When the earthquake struck I felt so alone as there are so few Haitians here in Britain. I have joined the group United Haitians in the UK. We hope to raise funds and help in any way we can. I just want to appeal to anyone in this country to give any help you can.
THURSDAY 14 JANUARY - RUTH NORBURY, BRISTOL, UK
My husband is from Haiti and has a large family that live in Carrefour, on the edge of the capital Port-au-Prince.
It must be a miracle because although the houses around them are broken, all eleven of his relatives are still alive and uninjured and their house is ok too.
We feared the worst when we saw the pictures on the news. It was 3am yesterday when we heard. We didn't get much sleep after that.
All the reports from Carrefour were of houses that had been flattened. The place had been "levelled".
All I can say to people is don't give up hope just yet
We tried to get through to the family. The phone lines were down, the internet was down. It was just a case of constantly trying, but we couldn't get through at all.
Getting through the day was difficult. All we could do was watch TV and look out for people we knew.
When I got home at nine o'clock last night I finally heard the good news.
My husband got through to his younger brother on the phone. He said: "We're fine - in fact none of us have a scratch."
Eleven members of the family were in the house at the time of the earthquake. But they all survived. And the house is intact. Even though everything was in tatters around them.
All I can say to people is don't give up hope just yet because among the darkness sometimes there is a small glimmer of light.
I hope more families will have good fortune like we have.
THURSDAY 14 JANUARY - LANDON YARRINGTON, PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI Earthquake damage in Haiti. Picture: Eric Lotz, Operation Blessing
My partner and I are US citizens who have been helping in the triage areas of the main UN base near the Toussaint L'Ouverture airport since the night of the quake. We are civilians and are still waiting to hear word back from officials in the US Embassy about evacuations. Until then, we're here comforting families and children and doing whatever we can to help the incoming victims.
The UN is supposed to begin building a new mobile hospital today. Around 2,000 US marines are supposed to land as well. The UN has already sent out wounded foreign nationals to hospitals in Miami, along with very badly wounded Haitians. Two Haitian girls are waiting for foot amputations sometime today. Our passports, computers, clothes and medicine are all buried in the house we were staying at in Port-au-Prince. All that we have with us now are the clothes on our backs.
We were talking with friends in an adjacent neighbourhood when the quake hit. We immediately walked back to our friends' house to find that that everyone was mercifully OK. Afterwards, we began rounding up all the wounded from the surrounding neighbourhoods and put them all in one area. We gathered together more than 200 wounded and the message kept spreading.
Tremors still shake everyone in the compound and make it especially difficult to get any sleep at night. These past two days have been a nightmare, especially for the countless Haitians who have lost everything.
THURSDAY 14 JANUARY - BARBARA JONES, MILTON KEYNES, UK
I am Haitian and have lived in the UK for just eight months. I was working and living in the Dominican Republic before then and if I was there now, I would have run across the border to find out what has happened to my family.
To see how the whole world is responding is amazing
I have not heard from my mother or my cousins. My aunt is also missing. She gave me my education and I owe her so much, she was a huge part of my childhood. My family live in Port-au-Prince, right at the epicentre of the earthquake. I haven't heard from any of them.
I have been calling all my other relatives and friends in Haiti. The phone lines are down a lot of the time and I can't get through. I am relying on family in America as well.
I am recently married and my husband has been wonderful. He has been supporting me otherwise I would be feeling very alone.
Haitians, we are used to disaster but this is the worse thing that has ever happened. Everything is destroyed. It is so upsetting.
Haiti's government cannot respond to something on this scale. To see how the whole world is responding is amazing. I am close to tears when I see how everyone is coming to help us.
THURSDAY 14 JANUARY - SEBASTIEN BARRAU, MIAMI, USA Sebastien Barrau and Marvin Chery
I am from Haiti and I moved to Miami four years ago. My family is still there. I got a call from my sister asking me to call her back straight away, she mentioned something about an earthquake. I didn't think it was that bad. When I got off the phone to her, I checked Twitter and I could see everybody posting information on there.
I started to get really worried for friends and family but it was my first day at a new job so I felt I couldn't just get up and leave. It was so terrible seeing the images on the television and online. Places I know and have visited were just destroyed. Haiti has had a lot of problems but nothing like this.
It's so shocking to see how everything has been destroyed and I just want to go back and help. I can't though and so I decided to create a website to help. I had a lot of people on Twitter contacting me, asking for information about loved ones. I thought it would make sense to get a website together where people can put up pictures and appeal for information about missing people. Everybody is worried and the list makes it easier. My school friend from Haiti, Marvin Chery, and I put the website together and it's now live.
I'm really disappointed. There are so few survivors. I spoke to a friend who helped get five people out of a collapsed supermarket, just five people. I've heard about people being alive one day and stuck under the rubble but who don't make it.
WEDNESDAY 13 JANUARY - SUSAN WESTWOOD, PORT AU PRINCE, HAITI
I am a paediatric nurse working for an orphanage just outside Port-au-Prince. I was in the intensive care room looking after a nine-month-old baby girl when the earthquake hit. The floor started shaking violently and the whole building shook from side to side. It lasted about 45 seconds. After that, there was a constant shuddering. The babies were really frightened and started to cry. Other staff and carers were screaming, they were so terrified. It was very upsetting.
A collapsed apartment in Cabaret, Haiti. Picture: Michael Gill
I couldn't stand upright so I dropped to my knees. I was able to keep hold of the baby girl and I grabbed hold of another baby. Objects were falling from shelves, there was debris crashing all around. I clung on to the babies and shielded them as best I could. Then came the aftershocks. It was impossible to even move.
After a while we managed to take all the children out onto the driveway. We spent the whole night outside. It was chilly but we were OK. Some children are dehydrated now though because we couldn't get any medical supplies out of the building.
Thank goodness our building is alright as is our other home up the road. I can't believe there's no damage and that we are all safe.
I clung on to the babies and shielded them as best I could
We have 85 children under two-years-old here at the God's Littlest Angels home. We also run another orphanage up the road. The age group there is from two to 11. There are 65 children there. All the children in our care are incredibly vulnerable.
Most of them aren't orphans but they are here because their families can't afford to look after them. Haiti is very, very poor. I see a lot of children who are malnourished. Often, it is too late by the time they come to us. Others are here because they are premature babies and we can look after them.
When I look around the area and see that other buildings have just crumbled to the ground, I know that soon we will have lots more babies and young children to care for.
WEDNESDAY 13 JANUARY - EMMET MURPHY, JACMEL, HAITI
I was driving through the mountains on my way home to Jacmel when the car started to shake. It was like a very strong wind was blowing and I nearly lost control of the car. Rocks started falling on the road. I continued driving slowly and I saw people in the road screaming. The mountain was collapsing and a building to one side had already fallen down. A huge dust plume raised from the valley floor.
I just knew that if I had reached that spot five minutes earlier, I would have been killed
I drove further and found the road totally blocked by a massive landslide on the road. I just knew that if I had reached that spot five minutes earlier, I would have been killed. I had to abandon the car and continue on foot.
I run a food security project in Haiti which focuses on improved agriculture, mother and child health nutrition and early warning systems. I prepare for natural disasters but mainly for hurricanes not earthquakes! We have offices across Haiti. Our office in Jacmel seems to be intact, but there is major destruction here. My staff in Jacmel are all safe but I can't reach my people in Port au Prince.
Last night they asked all Jacmel residents to sleep on the airstrip as the aftershocks continued and there was major damage to houses in Jacmel.
WEDNESDAY 13 JANUARY - CHRISTINE BLANCHARD, NEW JERSEY, USA
My family is still missing. The phone lines are down and I haven't been able to get in touch with them. I was born and raised in Haiti. My parents and I came to America a few years ago but the rest of my family, my grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and friends are still there.
It's just so awful. I feel sick with worry. I am devastated
I am using social network sites to try to track them down. I know this is how a lot of my friends have got in touch with each other. I've heard that a lot of people are at the Hotel Oloffson because it's one of the few hotels still standing. I'm in touch with people there and they will let me know if any of my family arrive.
I have been up all night trying to get in touch with people. Haiti is very small so everybody knows everybody else, I hope this will help.
It's just so awful. I feel sick with worry. I am devastated. I know every building that has collapsed. I know how long those buildings took to build and now they are just rubble.
Have you been affected by the earthquake? If you have any information you wish to share with the BBC you can do so using the form below:
Have you been affected by the earthquake? If you have any information you wish to share with the BBC you can do so using the form below:
You can send pictures and video to yourpics@bbc.co.uk, text them to +44 7725 100 100 or if you have a large file you can click here to upload.
You can send pictures and video to yourpics@bbc.co.uk, text them to +44 7725 100 100 or if you have a large file you can click here to upload.
