A stung Secretary of State Hillary Clinton defended America's role in the relief operation from charges of heavy-handed incompetence, as US officials backed plans to cancel Haiti's debt and consider easing immigration rules.

Port-au-Prince was rattled by two new earth tremors, two weeks after the deadly earthquake that killed at least 150,000 people, scaring a weary and destitute people from their improvised beds in makeshift camps.

"We just can't get used to these quakes. Each aftershock is terrifying and everyone is afraid," trader Edison Constant said, exhausted by a stream of aftershocks since the devastating 7.0-magnitude quake on January 12.

The US Geological Survey, which has warned the beleaguered Caribbean nation to expect tremors for the next month, measured the second tremor at 4.4.

"I hid under my bed," said iron merchant Julien Louis. Others were more resigned, shuffling out under heavy, humid skies to rejoin queues outside money transfer agencies, banks, immigration offices and aid distribution centers.

Amid the confusion and the aftershocks, the US military pulled a Haitian man alive from the rubble but it was not immediately clear whether he had been trapped since the original quake or more recently.

The middle-aged man was covered with dust, had facial injuries and appeared to have lost weight. Soldiers at the scene said he may have been a looter who became stuck in recent days when a damaged building collapsed.

In the Cite Soleil slum several thousand desperate people converged on a walled police compound to receive sacks of relief supplies, surging against the steel gates as officials struggled to let them in one by one.

All across the city, ad hoc street committees have hung imploring banners in English and French -- "SOS", "We need help here" and "We need food and water " -- in desperate attempts to attract the attention of aid agencies.

With its helicopters in constant rotation overhead, and foot patrols increasingly in evidence in the city, the US military has assumed a dominant role in the aid operation, and has been largely welcomed by Haitians.

But Clinton was forced to defend the operation from criticism that it had been badly coordinated with other states' and agencies' efforts and had been too heavy-handed in the immediate chaotic aftermath of the quake.

"I deeply resent those who attack our country, the generosity of our people and the leadership of our president in trying to respond to historically disastrous conditions after the earthquake," Clinton said in Washington.

Some 20,000 US troops have been sent to Haiti to distribute food and water.

The international relief effort has been hampered by traffic congestion and lingering security fears, and has yet to get enough aid into the capital Port-au-Prince and flattened towns near the quake's epicenter.

With the port only recently reopened, the hub of the aid operation remains the airport. A single road connects the airport, the UN headquarters and the Haitian government's temporary home in a dilapidated police station.

A motley caravan of trucks rented by various military and aid organizations snakes down this road, snarling traffic and holding up aid deliveries.

Looters were out early Tuesday in the capital's commercial center and appeared to be more organized than in past days, sharing out the tasks of digging through rubble, equipped with wagons and sledgehammers.

Donor nations and aid organizations have warned that rebuilding the country will take at least a decade.

"Right now, the needs of the people are survival and immediate recovery," said Pierre Kraehenbuehl, director of operations at the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Next comes the phase of long-term reconstruction, he said in Tokyo. "This is going to be more than 10 years of efforts."

Haitians, who lived with decades of political upheaval and bloodshed, fear the new-found international interest in their plight could soon fade.

A top officer said the US military could start rolling back its relief operation in Haiti within three to six months if international organizations are able to take on a larger role.

"I think there's a commitment to continue to provide support and stay engaged until other organizations can take over the role," said Vice Admiral Alan Thompson, director of the US Defense Logistics Agency.

Aid organizations fear disease could spread like wildfire if thousands are still living in tent cities when the rains come in April or May.

"The West has come to help us. It is extraordinary, but it will not last," said Andre Muscadin, an evangelical pastor. "Rather than give us a fish, teach us to catch fish."

Donor countries will hold a full conference on aid to Haiti at the UN headquarters in New York in March.

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