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Bodies pile up in Haiti as aid effort pledged

By Channel 4 News

Updated on 14 January 2010

Harrowing scenes have emerged from Port-au-Prince as the Red Cross warns up to fifty thousand people have died in Tuesday's quake. Some may find these images distressing.


The Haitian President Rene Preval says 7,000 victims of the earthquake have been buried in a common grave, two days after a 7.0 magnitude quake devastated large areas of the country's capital.

The earthquake flattened entire hillsides of poorly constructed buildings, with many people feared still trapped alive in the rubble.

People were today clawing at concrete with their hands trying to free those buried under collapsed buildings.

The streets of Port-au-Prince remain lined with bodies, while outside the city's general hospital the number of corpses has continued to rise.


Its director said that by lunchtime, at least 1,500 bodies had already been stacked up inside and outside the morgue.

Pick-up trucks have continued to bring corpses through the day.

The image below shows a resident stands next to hundreds of dead bodies at the general hospital.

Caution: Some people may find this image distressing.

(Photograph taken by Reuters/Eduardo Munoz)

Survivors' frustration

Heavy aircraft have begun to arrive in Port-au-Prince, but the aid has yet to reach many of those who have lost their homes in the earthquake.

Some expressed their frustration to Channel 4 News at the slow pace of the relief effort, saying they needed water, food and medicine.

Many survivors have been reluctant to return to their houses due to fears of further aftershocks.

Relief efforts

President Barack Obama pledged today $100m towards immediate aid efforts in Haiti as part of what he called "the largest relief efforts in recent history".

In a televised address, President Obama told the Haitian people "You will not be forsaken" as he pledged financial and practical aid to the country.

US troops and ships have already been sent to Haiti to assist in earthquake rescue and recovery efforts.

The US said it will send up to 3,500 soldiers and 2,200 marines to the country.

Search and rescue teams, some with search dogs and heavy equipment, have also been sent by China and Europe.

Unicef says 10,000 tarpaulins, 4,600 water containers, 5.5 million water-purification tablets and 556,000 oral rehydration sachets are on the way to help 10,000 families.

 

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