BEIJING, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- The world community has been intensifying relief efforts in Haiti in the past two days after a devastating quake hit the Caribbean nation on Tuesday.

    On Saturday, a Boeing-747 jumbo jet carrying 90 tons of emergency humanitarian supplies provided by China took off from the Beijing Capital International Airport to quake-ravaged Haiti.

United Nations peacekeepers distribute bottles of water to locals in Haitian capital Port-au-Prince on Jan. 16, 2010. International rescuers are rushing to Haiti following a devastating earthquake on Jan. 12. (Xinhua)Photo Gallery>>>

    The 13 million yuan (1.9 million U.S. dollars) worth of quake relief items included tents, stretchers, food, medicines, clothing and water purification equipment.

    The aid is part of a relief package worth 30 million yuan (4.41million dollars) the Chinese government announced Friday.

    On Saturday, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he was "deeply saddened to confirm the tragic death" of his special representative to Haiti Hedi Annabi, and Annabi's deputy Luiz Carlos da Costa.

    "In every sense of the word, they gave their lives for peace," Ban said in a statement.

    Annabi "was a true citizen of the world. The United Nations was his life and he ranked amongst its most dedicated and committed sons," Ban said. "He was passionate about its mission and its people."

    Annabi, a Tunisian national who was head of the UN Stability Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), was found dead in debris in the quake-destroyed UN headquarters in Port-au-Prince by Chinese rescuers.

    U.S. President Barack Obama invited two of his predecessors, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, to help raise relief funds for Haiti.

    "I am pleased that President George W. Bush and President (Bill) Clinton have agreed to lead a major fund-raising effort for relief," Obama said in a joint appearance with his two predecessors after a meeting in the White House.

    U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Haiti to beef up U.S. assistance to the country.

    "I am confident that this Caribbean nation can come back better and stronger after the joint reconstruction work," Clinton told media at the airport, after meeting Haitian President Rene Preval.

    Meanwhile, Arab League Secretary-general Amr Moussa and African Union Commission chairperson Jean Ping called on Arab and African countries to provide humanitarian aid to victims of the Haiti quake.

Mexican rescuers unload relief goods from a cargo plane in Haitian capital Port-au-Prince on Jan. 16, 2010. International rescuers are rushing to Haiti following a devastating earthquake on Jan. 12. (Xinhua) Photo Gallery>>>

    The United Arab Emirates (UAE) will send a plane to the Dominican Republic within days to deliver the first batch of humanitarian aid to Haiti.

    A team from the UAE Red Crescent Authority (RCA) will also leave for the Dominican Republic to coordinate and oversee field relief operations.

    Canada will send more than 1,000 soldiers to Haiti next week for quake relief.

    To help Haitians reunite with their family members in Canada, the Canadian government plans to ease immigration rules to allow Haitian refugees to enter Canada more quickly. And those in Canada who have been required to return to Haiti will be granted an extension.

    Bangladesh will send a 30-member medical team to Haiti, including 20 physicians and 10 health technicians and assistant workers.

    Two Moroccan military planes carrying about 24 tons of medical supplies took off from a military base near Rabat.

    The aid was part of a 1-million-dollar emergency humanitarian aid granted by the Moroccan government.

    The latest death toll given by Haitian authorities is about 50,000.



China ready to send more rescue, medical personnel to Haiti 

    BEIJING, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- While the Chinese rescue team is doing its mission in Haiti, more personnel and materials are ready to back up the rescue and medical aid in the quake-hit country, according to the China Earthquake Administration (CEA) Sunday.
    Miao Chonggang, vice director of the CEA's department for disaster relief and emergency aid, said the department is keeping close contact with the rescue team at the front and can send more supports immediately if required. Full story

China active in disaster relief in quake-hit Haiti

    BEIJING, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- China has been engaged in a flurry of efforts to help Haitians and Chinese nationals after the Caribbean island country Haiti was battered by a devastating earthquake on Tuesday.

    Immediately after the quake was reported, Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao ordered related Chinese departments to be prepared for assistance. Full story

Chinese rescuers provide much-needed medical assistance in Haiti 

    BEIJING, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- Being the only foreign rescue team to run medical-aid stations in quake-ravaged Haiti, Chinese rescuers are giving quake victims what they desperately need: medical assistance, team members told Xinhua via phone Saturday.

    The China International Search and Rescue Team, arriving in Port-au-Prince at 2 a.m. local time on Jan. 14, opened the first medical assistance station at 8 p.m. the next day, said captain Hou Shike. Full story


UN chief "deeply saddened" to confirm death of top UN officials in Haiti 

    UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Saturday that he is "deeply saddened to confirm the tragic death" of his special representative to Haiti, Hedi Annabi, and his deputy Luiz Carlos da Costa.

    In a statement issued at the UN Headquarters in New York, Ban said, "In every sense of the word, they gave their lives for peace." Full story

Clinton meets with Haitian President Rene Preval 

    PORT AU PRINCE, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with Haitian President Rene Preval on Saturday.

   She arrived Haiti on Saturday. Full story

Haiti plans massive evacuation of quake-hit homeless 

Photo taken on Jan. 16, 2010 shows a shelter of the earthquake refugees in Port-au-Prince, capital of Haiti. (Xinhua/Yuan Man) Photo Gallery>>>

   PORT AU PRINCE, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- The Haiti government plans a massive evacuation of citizens made homeless by Tuesday's earthquake, which registered 7.3 degrees on the Richter scale, the nation's interior minister, Antoine Bien-Aime said on Saturday.

    "In many cases we are going to have to move the population and we plan to build temporary camps to host the homeless," Bien-Aime said. Full story

Quake destroys 90% of Haitian town Leogane 

An injured woman is carried out of a hospital in Port-au-Prince, capital of Haiti, on Jan. 16, 2010. The hospital is full of the earthquake patients with insufficient medical care. (Xinhua/Yuan Man) Photo Gallery>>>

    PORT AU PRINCE, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- Tuesday's 7.0-magnitude earthquake destroyed 90 percent of Leogane, the municipality 30 kilometers west of Haiti's capital that was the epicenter of the quake, United Nations spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs said on Saturday.

    Haitian police said that between 5,000 and 10,000 residents of the town, with a population of 134,000, had died and that many of them remain trapped in the rubble. Between 40 percent and 50 percent of buildings collapsed in nearby towns Carrefour, population 334,000; and Gressier, 25,000. Full story

Canada to send troops to Haiti for quake relief

    OTTAWA, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- Canada will send more than 1,000 soldiers to Haiti next week for quake relief, the Globe and Mail reported on Saturday.

    The report said the army had told 800 troops from CPB Valcartier in Quebec to be ready to deploy to Haiti.Full story

Rescue continues as international community mobilized to help quake-hit Haiti 

A volunteer treats an injured at a hospital in Port-au-Prince, capital of Haiti, on Jan. 16, 2010. The hospital is full of the earthquake patients with insufficient medical care. (Xinhua/Yuan Man) Photo Gallery>>>

    PORT-AU-PRINCE, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- Rescue efforts continued in Haiti on Saturday as the international community has been mobilized to provide the devastated island nation's earthquake survivors with medical assistance and other humanitarian aid.

    In the first three days after the magnitude-7.3 earthquake struck on Tuesday, aid workers spared no efforts to find any signs of life. A number of people have been saved from the rubble of Haiti's capital city but in most cases, more bodies were pulled out of the rubbles. Full story

UN Haiti casualties worst ever for staff 

    UNITED NATIONS, Jan.16 (Xinhua) -- Walking up the First Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, central New York City, butting against the icy north wind sweeping down the East River alongside UN World Headquarters this past week, one plodded to the promise of warmth, in a pain similar to, but certainly not as cutting as the hurt UN staff suffered with the loss of so many colleagues in the Jan. 12 Haiti earthquake.

    The headquarters staff, too, plods through daily routines, but now it is against the bone-chilling news of entrapment and death of their own, members of the global UN family, people they worked and partied with, shared news of personal triumphs and tragedies with. Full story

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