"We are making a global appeal for meals ready to eat," World Food Programme executive director Josette Sheeran told reporters. "More than 100 million meals are needed over the next 30 days."

Several million meals are already "in the pipeline," including 16 million from the United States that "are moving as we speak" and more contributions from Italy and Denmark, Sheeran told a global teleconference.

Tens of thousands of people were killed and many more made homeless, without food or water, by the magnitude 7.0 quake in the impoverished country.

Forty-three tonnes of food were due to be flown in on Monday as food distribution gained pace on the ground, some six days after the southern area around the capital was partly destroyed by the quake.

"In comparison to the other major natural disasters of this scale that we've handled, we are moving at pace. The unique dimension here was the devastation not only to the people and government and ports but also to the humanitarian agencies," Sheeran said.

"We have seen a dramatic improvement in the efficiency and coordination of the flow of goods coming in and a prioritisation of those," she added.

Forty-six UN personnel are now confirmed dead in the quake and more than 500 are missing or unaccounted for, UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said Monday.

Sheeran said the WFP hoped to open a total of five humanitarian corridors to channel aid to the quake victims. "We can't bring everything in through Port-au-Prince," Sheeran said.

The food agency is setting up 14 distribution "hubs" in the capital and another 30 to 40 elsewhere in the country, she said, adding that security at the hubs would be a concern.

WFP spokeswoman Emilia Casella told AFP in Geneva earlier that Brazilian, Sri Lankan and Jordanian battalions in the UN peacekeeping mission in Haiti volunteered to carry out a distribution on Monday alongside three non-governmental aid organisations.

The WFP was also aiming to ship in 10,000 gallons of fuel (some 40,000 litres) a day from Monday to keep its food convoys running, Casella said.

Sheeran said the "private sector offers (of money) have broken all records," totalling some six million dollars (four million euros) for WFP relief efforts since Friday.

"It's almost unique in the outpouring of immediate support at every level," she said.

The United Nations on Friday appealed for 562 million dollars from the world community to assist the quake victims.

earlier related report
US paratroopers set up bases beyond Haitian capital
Port Au Prince (AFP) Jan 18, 2010 - Paratroopers from the US army's 82nd Airborne deployed Monday out of the main Haitian airport in waves of navy Seahawk helicopters to set up bases from which to begin humanitarian operations.

Lieutenant Colonel Pat Hynes took the first battalion to a walled compound north of Port-au-Prince, the abandoned site of a planned power plant, about one kilometer (0.6 mile) from the US military's hub in the capital's airport.

"Our mission is to provide humanitarian assistance and disaster relief," Haynes told AFP as another Seahawk touched down behind him in a thick cloud of dust.

Around the walls of the compound an advance party of Hynes' men stretched out tarps to provide temporary shelter from the hot Caribbean sun until the supplies to construct a more permanent base arrive.

Outside the compound, thousands of young Haitian men crowded about with a cheerful but determined air, drawn by the sound of the choppers and keen to seek jobs on any base.

"I was a driver for Pepsi Cola, but it is broken. It was shut before the earthquake," said 30-year-old John Ely. "Some people need meals and water. We need jobs, the country was broken," he said

Hynes' troops arrived armed with assault rifles and light machine guns, but there was no sign of aggression from the crowds.

"They've been dignified and respectful, especially after all they've been through," Hynes said.

Vital aid backed by US military personnel was bringing a drip of hope to despairing Haitians, who are still seeking basic supplies and security nearly a week after the 7.0-magnitude earthquake slammed the impoverished nation.

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