The US leader expressed fears that looming spring rains in Haiti could pose a severe threat to 1.3 million vulnerable people left homeless after the January quake which killed more than 220,000 people.

"The situation on the ground remains dire and people should be under no illusions that the crisis is over," Obama said, in a poignant joint appearance with Preval in the White House Rose Garden.

Preval thanked Americans for their solidarity in the immediate aftermath of the disaster, and all foreign governments, aid organizations and donors who responded in a "commensurate" way to Haiti's tragedy.

He strongly backed the concept of a United Nations "red helmet" rapid reaction force of experts, firefighters and other relief workers to manage humanitarian efforts within hours of a massive natural disaster.

He said long-term rebuilding aid and efforts to improve health care, education and unemployment should include rural areas, in order to avoid new migratory flows into the devastated and impoverished capital Port-au-Prince.

"We must draw the lessons from what occurred in Haiti. These are lessons for all of mankind," Preval said.

"The massive, spontaneous, generous help was a good response to the disaster. However, its effectiveness must be improved, because effectiveness depends on the quality of coordination."

Preval also said that hoped-for donor funds gathered at a United Nations conference in New York later this month should be administered by a single trust fund to ensure they were spent wisely.

In the past, given pervasive corruption in Haitian society, and a volatile political situation, the full impact of some development aid has not been felt, leaving some donors questioning future funding.

Obama said there remained a "desperate need" for humanitarian aid in Haiti, describing the quake as "one of the most devastating natural disasters ever to strike our hemisphere."

"The challenge now is to prevent a second disaster," Obama said, hours after former president Bill Clinton, now a UN special envoy to Haiti, warned that a new wave of deaths could be caused by poor sanitary conditions.

Obama described his talks with Preval as "very productive" and said the Haitian leader offered an update on the "awful scale of Haitian loss."

"No nation could respond to such a catastrophe alone," Obama said, adding that the UN donors conference would allow the world to keep its commitment to help Haiti rebuild.

"This pledge is one that I made at the beginning of this crisis, and I intend for America to keep our pledge," Obama said. "America will be your partner."

Obama however conspicuously avoided detailed mention of Haiti's political situation, a day after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton joined Preval to call for new elections as soon as possible.

The US leader also said he was "extraordinarily proud" of each of the 20,000 US military and civilian personnel who flocked to Haiti in the aftermath of the disaster to help with the relief effort and provide much-needed security.

"They saved lives, countless lives, of men and women and children," Obama said.

The Pentagon said the Comfort naval hospital, which is leaving Haiti on Wednesday, treated 871 patients during its seven-week mission and performed 843 surgeries.

The Comfort has spent the past two weeks helping Haitians for ailments unrelated to the earthquake, with the last person treated for earthquake injuries discharged on February 27, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said.

The naval doctors also delivered 10 babies onboard the ship, he said.

Bill Clinton delivered his warning in testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations committee, saying his biggest worry was that unsanitary conditions would "lead to a second round of deaths" when the rainy season comes.

earlier related report
Clinton, Preval urge quick Haiti elections
Washington (AFP) March 9, 2010 - US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton joined Haitian President Rene Preval Tuesday in calling for new elections in quake-hit Haiti as soon as possible.

Legislative polls originally set for February and March were postponed after the January 12 earthquake that demolished the capital Port-au-Prince, killing more than 220,000 people and leaving one million Haitians homeless.

Clinton talked with Preval on the eve of his meeting with President Barack Obama and said he had "made the very important point that we must work toward elections to ensure the stability and legitimacy of the Haitian government.

"I assured President Preval that the United States would work with the international community to hold elections as soon as appropriate," the chief US diplomat said.

Alongside her, Preval said it was imperative that both legislative polls to elect a new parliament and presidential elections to choose his successor were held by the end of the year when he must step down.

"To have a provisional government in a year would be a catastrophe. This government would not have legitimacy, there would be no parliament, that would really be returning to 2004," Preval told reporters.

The Caribbean nation -- the poorest country in the western hemisphere -- has had a long history of dictatorship followed by years of political turmoil and civil unrest.

In 2004, 1,000 US Marines followed by thousands of UN peacekeepers brought order to Haiti after a bloody rebellion against president Jean-Bertrand Aristide's rule. A provisional government was then installed.

The elections call comes as quake survivors say poor governance, corruption and shoddy construction magnified a disaster that was hundreds of times less powerful than the quake in Chile but far more deadly and devastating.

Survivors also lament that Haitian government officials were virtually absent in the quake's aftermath.

Preval, 67, who also served as president from 1996 to 2001, is constitutionally barred from seeking a third mandate. His current term expires in February 2011 and presidential elections are expected in December.

The Washington-based Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) recalled reports saying that 15 political parties would have been excluded from the February and March elections.

The CEPR, quoting Haitian lawyers, added that the exclusions were made by the Provisional Electoral Council, whose members were appointed by Preval, according to an email sent to AFP.

The US stepped up Tuesday its withdrawal of some 11,000 troops deployed to help the relief effort and provide security after the disaster, recalling a navy hospital ship.

Preval underscored that stability was the key to attracting badly-needed foreign investment and suggested Haiti needed to be rebuilt differently with greater economic opportunities for people outside the capital.

"Today, we are faced with a historical situation that will allow us to rebuild, refound this country," he said.

"In the past, everything had been concentrated and focused on the capital, where the political and economic elites of the country live, and the rest of the country was neglected.

"That's why so many people came to Haiti, into Port-au-Prince, in the illusory quest for work that did not exist, and that is why there is so much shoddy construction, which does not comply with standards, and that is why there were so many casualties."

Clinton said the United States has provided nearly 700 million dollars in assistance so far to Haiti, adding "progress has been made but not nearly enough" toward easing the suffering of the Haitian people.

She said US officials are "listening very carefully to President Preval and the voices of the Haitian people as to what our next steps should be," ahead of an international donors conference at the end of the month.

Clinton promised US help in ensuring that homeless Haitians get the shelter they so desperately need before the rainy season begins in earnest in a few months.

She highlighted the need to provide farmers with fertilizer and seeds and suggested that other countries join the US in extending favorable tariffs to Haiti to boost struggling Haitian factories.

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