PORT AU PRINCE, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- Almost three days have passed since a disastrous earthquake ravaged Haiti on Tuesday. Worldwide rescue efforts, though reaching the Haitian capital continuously, are still far from enough.
Lack of loading machines, paralyzed traffic, interrupted communications and stranded crowds have all been translated into massive inconveniences for disaster relief during the most valuable period in the aftermath of the strong quake.
While working past exhaustion at the crumbled U.N. headquarters in Haiti, the Chinese search-and-rescue team have been scouring survivors without the presence of diggers or other heavy machinery.
"We can hardly manage to deploy the heavy rescue equipment to the rescue scene as a great number of homeless people are stranded on streets," said Hung Jianfa, leader of the Chinese emergency rescue team.
Huang also complained the rescue work has been delayed owing to the absence of loading and uploading machines at the capital's airport, adding they could only unload all the rescue equipment and first aid products manually.
Back from his damage-assessment tour in Haiti, Brazilian Defense Minister Nelson Jobim said medicines and food are still in short supply in the seriously-affected Port au Prince.
He also said more instant cookies or chocolates are expected as there are currently scant of cooking conditions.
Despite the shortage of goods and heavy machines, the sense of insecurity is calling for an intensified assistance for security watch over disaster relief resources and safety of the rescuers.
A U.N. warehouse containing aid food in the city of Port au Prince was broken into by looters, said a U.N. World Food Program spokeswoman Emilia Casella on Friday, without mentioning how much aid was stolen or exactly when it was taken.
What's worse, the earthquake also crack open the main prison in the city, leading the escape of many shackled prisoners.
"Our biggest problem is insecurity. Yesterday they tried to hijack some of our trucks. Today we were barely able to work in some places because of that," said Delfin Antonio Rodriguez, Civil Defense chief and rescue commander for the Dominican Republic.
Lieutenant General PK Keen, the head of the U.S. relief operation in Haiti said, "Up to this point, we have not seen a great deal of insecurity, but clearly that is a concern, and we will work with the government and the national police to deal with it as best we can."
The U.N. also expressed its willingness Friday to send more troops to Haiti to help police the country, prevent violence and ensure the safety of aid workers distributing humanitarian supplies.
At present, 12 rescue teams are working tirelessly in the Haitian capital, with additional assistance on the way from 10 countries and regions.
Internationally coordinated efforts are the most cherished when a flux of assistance is pouring into the quake-damaged Haiti. And the spirit of cooperation is widely observed.
The Cuban government has agreed on Friday to grant the U.S. the permission to use its airspace for aid and evacuation flights, and will ease the logistical pressures which have been limiting the resources getting into the hands of the affected Haitians.
The presidents of the U.S. and France have agreed to work cooperatively in emergency relief in Haiti over their phone conversation late Tuesday night, saying an international conference on Haiti's reconstruction, along "with Brazil, Canada, and other countries directly concerned," will be organized.
According to the preliminary assessment by U.N. disaster experts, roughly 10 percent of the households in the city was flattened, leaving 300,000 people homeless.
The U.N. has launched an appeal late Friday in New York for 550million U.S. dollars, said the U.N. spokeswoman Corinne Momal-Vanian in Geneva.
"There are pockets of survival, we shouldn't give up hope," said the spokeswoman for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Elisabeth Byrs.
