RIO DE JANEIRO, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- Brazilian Defense Minister Nelson Jobim said on Friday that there is no hope to find the five Brazilian citizens missing in the Haiti earthquake alive.

Brazilian Defense Minister Nelson Jobim receives an interview from reporters in Brasilia, capital of Brazil, Jan. 15, 2010, after his two-day inspection in Port au Prince, capital of Haiti. Earthquake victims in Haiti need hospitals and food, he said on Friday.(Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    "Missing is a term for 'bodies that have not been found'," the minister said at a press conference in Rio.

    The bodies of 15 Brazilian citizens, one civilian and 14 military personnel, have already been found. The military were part of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Haiti (Minustah), and the civilian was humanitarian worker Zilda Arns.

    Arns' body has already arrived in Brazil and the bodies of the 14 military personnel are to arrive in the country by Sunday.

    Other four military personnel and one civilian, a UN official, remain missing. According to Jobim, they were reportedly at the Christopher Hotel, the UN headquarters in Port-au-Prince, at the time of the earthquake. The hotel has been completely destroyed in the tragedy.

    Minister Jobim returned home on Friday from a two-day visit to Haiti, where he was sent to assess the damage caused by the earthquake and define the Brazilian strategy to help its Caribbean neighbor.

    According to the minister, the strategy will focus on five points -- burying the bodies of the victims, treating the injured, removing the debris, distributing food and water to the local population, and providing security.

    Brazil has already sent several shipments of food, water, medicine, medical equipment and specialized personnel to Haiti. A financial aid of 15 million U.S. dollars has been announced as well.

    Additionally, the minister said that Brazil will send non-lethal weapons, especially those which allow the use of rubber bullets, in order to control the violence in Port-au-Prince, which may surge as hunger, thirst and despair increase in the city.

    The minister also said that there will be collective funerals and religious ceremonies for the victims.

Number of Brazilian military died in Haiti rises to 14

BRASILIA, Jan. 14 (Xinhua) -- The number of Brazilian soldiers who died as a result of the earthquake that hit Port au Prince, Haiti's capital, on Tuesday rose to 14, according to a statement released Thursday by Brazil's Ministry of Defense.

Four officers remain unaccounted for, and 14 were injured -- two will be returned to Brazil and another two have been hospitalized in the Dominican Republic, neighboring Haiti, the statement added. Full story

Brazilian gov't mourn over death of humanitarian worker in Haiti earthquake

Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim gestures during a press conference in Brasilia, Jan. 13, 2010. The Brazilian government announced on Wednesday that its financial aid to be granted to Haiti to help the reconstruction after Tuesday's disastrous earthquake will reach 15 million U.S. dollars.(Xinhua/Radiobras) Photo Gallery>>>

    RIO DE JANEIRO, Jan. 13 (Xinhua) -- The Brazilian government on Wednesday mourned over the death of Zilda Arns, a Nobel Peace Prize nominee who was killed on a humanitarian mission in Haiti by the devastating earthquake Tuesday. Full story

Earthquake crushes thousands of buildings in Haiti

    SANTO DOMINGO, Jan. 13 (Xinhua) -- A major earthquake rocked Haiti on Tuesday, crushing thousands of buildings, including the presidential palace and the U.N. peacekeeping headquarters, and trapping untold numbers of people in the rubble of the capital city.

    The devastation from the magnitude-7.3 quake, the strongest ever recorded on the poor Caribbean island, was so complete that it seemed likely the death toll would run into the thousands, according to reports monitored here. Full story

"Scale of catastrophe in Haiti is very high," says UN peacekeeping chief   

    UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 13 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations deals with humanitarian crises all the time but the devastating earthquake in Haiti has stricken especially close to home, said the head of UN peacekeeping forces Alain Le Roy here Wednesday.

    With the number of fatalities among UN staff members rising, LeRoy said the emotion is "extremely high." Full story