THE DEATH toll in the earthquake that devastated the Haitian capital a week ago is now estimated to be up to 200,000.
Asked about Haitian government statements that between 150,000 and 200,000 people died, Gen Ken Keen, the commander of US forces in Haiti, said: “I think the international community is looking at those figures, and I think that’s a start point. Clearly, this is a disaster of epic proportions . . .”
The Haitian government says three-quarters of the capital will have to be rebuilt. Seventy thousand Haitians have already been buried, and many thousands more are decomposing in the rubble. I saw at least 10 uncollected bodies in the streets of the capital yesterday, covered with sheets or planks, or wrapped like packages.
Close to one-third of Haiti’s population of 9.8 million live in Port-au-Prince, and all of them have been affected by the disaster.
The US southern command said it was deploying another 2,200 marines with heavy earthmoving equipment and medical aid helicopters yesterday. Gen Keen said there were already 3,400 US military in Haiti, out of a total of 10,000 in the region.
But the bulk of US forces are at the badly damaged airport and harbour. The airport is not able to accommodate all the relief flights, with medical personnel waiting 48 hours to fly into the country. The harbour is supposed to reopen in two to three days.
I did not see a single US soldier in four hours driving around the city yesterday morning. Helicopters, which have reportedly carried out food drops, are the only physical sign of the US presence.
The former US president Bill Clinton was to meet the Haitian president René Préval here yesterday. Mr Clinton is the UN’s special envoy for Haiti, and said he was here to determine what Haiti needs.
The European Union pledged €400 million in aid for Haiti.
Also yesterday the UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon asked the security council to add 1,500 UN policemen and 2,000 blue helmets to the 9,000-strong force already here. UN forces are scarcely more visible than American troops.
The UN has confirmed that 46 of its employees died in the earthquake, and more than 500 remain unaccounted for.
Although 30 countries have contributed to the relief effort, there is still little sign of an international presence in the city. Aid organisations and foreign governments appear to fear the people they are trying to help. Wire agencies report that looters are fighting over merchandise in ruined shops downtown with knives, hammers, ice-picks and rocks. Although I heard gunfire in the downtown area in the past two days, I saw no evidence of widespread looting. Two looters were reported killed by police on Sunday.
An exodus has started, as residents of the capital flee hunger and the pestilential stench in the city. Crowds several thousand strong wait outside the embassies of Canada, France and the US, the countries with closest ties to Haiti.
Haitians can be seen loading up vehicles or standing by the roadside with their belongings, waiting for “tap-tap” taxis to take them to the countryside. “My house collapsed. I have no place to sleep,” Altagrace Noel (19) told me when I stopped to talk to her as she began a 10-hour journey to Baradère in the south.
In a city where three million people are now literally living in the streets, a crowd forms immediately around any foreigner. Did the others want to leave? I asked. “Yes. Yes. Yes,” I heard from all sides. “The country is not necessarily better, because it’s poor. But there is no food here and it stinks.” Abdoulaye Wade, the president of Senegal, said African nations should offer Haitian survivors the chance to resettle in Africa, “the land of their ancestors. Africa should offer Haitians the chance to return home. It is their right,” Mr Wade said on his website.