US sending 10,000 troops to Haiti

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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.

The announcement came after US President Barack Obama pledged full American support in a phone call to his Haitian counterpart Rene Preval.

UN Secretary General Ban-Ki-moon said aid distribution had begun but logistics were extremely difficult.

Tuesday's earthquake has left as many as 45,000-50,000 people dead.

Few aid supplies appear to be getting through to survivors, and correspondents cite increasing anger among the population.

Many are spending another day without food and shelter in the ruined capital.

'Main priority'

The chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm Mike Mullen, said a hospital ship and more helicopters would be sent in the coming days, and 9-10,000 troops would be in or off Haiti by Monday.

AT THE SCENE Nick Davis, Port-au-Prince

People are doing what they can to survive here in Port-au-Prince. Every morning the first jobs of the day involve getting the very basics.

Loaded with old plastic bottles or anything else that can hold water, they fill up where they can. Some from broken pipes from collapsed buildings, that still have a supply.

The relief effort is under way, the near constant buzz of planes landing with supplies can be heard overhead. On the ground the aid is materialising slowly.

There are still bodies on the streets, but for those who can afford it, those who can be identified, a decent burial. I saw six men carrying a roughly carved casket, singing as they walked toward the cemetery.

But for others, a less dignified burial, as mass graves have started to be used across the city.

US defence secretary Robert Gates said the relief effort was the "highest priority for US military assets in this hemisphere", and all necessary resources would be made available.

The USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier has arrived in Haiti and the USS Bataan, carrying a marine expeditionary unit, is on its way.

On Friday, the UN said a total of about $270m (£165m) in international aid had been pledged so far for the relief effort.

It will launch an emergency appeal for $550m later on Friday, UN spokeswoman Corinne Momal-Vanian said.

On the ground, correspondents say there is little immediate sign of a co-ordinated relief effort.

The UN's World Food Programme says two million people will need food aid, but it has so far managed to feed just 4,000.

Meanwhile the head of the charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) said thousands of people were waiting for surgery in Haiti's hospitals, AFP news agency reported.

They want us to provide them with help, which is, of course, what we want to do David WimhurstUN spokesman <a class="" href="/2/hi/technology/8461240.stm">Tech tools offer Haiti lifeline</a> <a class="" href="/2/hi/americas/8459653.stm">How survivors are found</a> <a class="" href="/2/hi/americas/8460547.stm">Haiti desperate for help</a> <a class="" href="/2/hi/americas/8459090.stm">Survivors' stories</a> <a class="" href="/2/hi/americas/8460771.stm">LIVE: Haiti earthquake</a>

Port-au-Prince's small airport is filled to capacity and US air traffic controllers have taken charge to help manage the influx of planes.

However because of fuel shortages, some aircraft are clogging up the tarmac. Meanwhile the port is too damaged to use and roads are blocked by debris.

The BBC's Andy Gallacher in Port-au-Prince says survivors are dying in huge numbers, and clean water, food and medical supplies are desperately needed.

"We hear on the radio that rescue teams are coming from the outside, but nothing is coming," said one man, Jean-Baptiste Lafontin Wilfried.

David Wimhurst, a spokesman for the Brazilian-led UN peacekeeping mission in Haiti, said: "Unfortunately, they're slowly getting more angry and impatient."

The UN headquarters has collapsed and correspondents say there is little official presence in Port-au-Prince despite incidents of looting.

"Our biggest problem is insecurity," Delfin Antonio Rodriguez, the rescue commander from the neighbouring Dominican Republic, told AFP news agency on Friday.

"Yesterday they tried to hijack some of our trucks. Today we were barely able to work in some places because of that."

<a class="" href="/2/hi/americas/8458690.stm">Satellite and close-up images of Port-au-Prince devastation</a>

The WFP initially said its warehouses in Port-au-Prince been looted, but this was later denied.

"We do still have that 6,000 tonnes of food," spokeswoman Caroline Hurford told the BBC.

"Apparently there were unconfirmed reports of looting taking place but once our teams got down to the dockside they were able to see that there was some mistake."

Race against time

Shaul Schwarz, a photographer for Time magazine, told the BBC he had seen a roadblock formed with bodies of quake victims on a main road, south of the capital.

He said he believed this was an "act of anger" on the part of people who are not getting help.

About 45,000-50,000 people have died since Tuesday's 7.0 magnitude earthquake and 300,000 have been made homeless, the UN estimates.

Aid groups say it is a race against time to find trapped survivors.

A British rescue team with heavy lifting gear and dogs has reached Haiti.

Other plane-loads of rescuers and relief supplies are arriving from China, the EU, Canada, Russia and Latin American nations.

Mr Obama and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, working with Brazil, Canada and other countries, will organise a conference on reconstruction in Haiti, the French presidency has announced.

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