As soon as they arrive in the Dominican Republic, humanitarian workers, journalists and people just trying to help are approached by individuals proposing a flight to Haiti for 500 dollars as time runs out to find any more survivors.

"Hotels are full, it's impossible to find a rental car," freelance journalists said as they negotiated a transfer to Port-au-Prince for 100 dollars a seat.

With armed looters roaming the streets of the Haitian capital and others protesting the slow trickle of aid distributed to the needy, few dare venture on the roads at night.

Air Caraibes offers a bus trip for 50 dollars plus taxes, on top of fees depending on the weight of luggage. The bus travels to Tabar, five kilometers (three miles) from Port-au-Prince. But the company warns that passengers are responsible for their own safety.

Staff from major aid organizations like the Red Cross -- which saw 60 members from six different countries arrive late Saturday -- Doctors Without Borders and South Africa's Gift of the Givers Foundation arriving in Santo Domingo are ferried to buses.

Haitian President Rene Preval was scheduled to visit the Dominican Republic, which makes up the richer two-thirds of the island of Hispaniola it shares with Haiti,on Monday to prepare for an international donors conference.

Representatives from the United Nations, World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank and Caricom were also expected for the preparatory event.

Dominican President Leonel Fernandez was the first foreign head of state to visit the devastated Haitian capital.

He ordered border hospitals to open their doors to survivors of the quake, which decimated much of the Haitian infrastructure.

Thousands of gravely injured Haitians have sought refuge and medical attention in the Dominican Republic, but Dominican authorities have also stepped up immigration controls fearing an influx of illegal migrants and escaped convicts.

But for many Dominicans, it was a Sunday like any other. Some went to the beach, leaving no hint of the terrible drama unfolding just a three-hour drive away.

Ban says Haiti worst disaster in decades
Port-Au-Prince (AFP) Jan 17, 2010 - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Sunday that Haiti was the worst humanitarian crisis in decades as he surveyed the devastated quake-hit capital for himself.

After an emotional reunion in Port-au-Prince with Michele Montas, a Haitian who until late last year was his spokeswoman, Ban was to meet President Rene Preval and receive a helicopter tour of the disaster zone.

"I am going to Haiti with a very heavy heart to express solidarity and full support of the UN to the people of Haiti," Ban told journalists accompanying him on the day-long trip.

Tuesday's 7.0-magnitude quake has killed tens of thousands of Haitians and was also the worst ever disaster to befall the UN with 40 staffers confirmed dead and nearly 330 others still unaccounted for.

"We have to prepare for the worst," Ban said as he flew out of Newark, referring to UN employees still missing after the disaster that flattened much of Port-au-Prince and nearby towns in western Haiti.

Ban said the three top priorities were: to save as many people as possible, to bring emergency humanitarian aid in the form of water, food and medication, and to coordinate the massive aid effort.

The UN has noted that at least local government structures remained after the 2004 tsunami hit Indonesia's Aceh province, but in the Haiti town of Leogane, for example, all public services were lost in the earthquake.

Between 20,000 and 30,000 people are thought to have died in that town alone, an indication of the horrific scale of the catastrophe beyond Port-au-Prince.

Ban will assess the Caribbean nation's needs and attempt to boost the shattered morale of the Brazilian-led United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti, MINUSTAH.

On the eve of his departure, Ban grimly confirmed that MINUSTAH civilian chief Hedi Annabi, his Brazilian deputy Luiz Carlos da Costa and acting police commissioner, Doug Coates of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, were the latest confirmed fatalities.

"The United Nations was his life and he ranked amongst its most dedicated and committed sons," the UN boss said of Annabi, a veteran Tunisian UN troubleshooter.

Annabi was meeting with a visiting Chinese police delegation when the quake flattened MINUSTAH's main headquarters building in Port-au-Prince's Christopher Hotel building.

Ban has sent Edmond Mulet, a top UN peacekeeping official and Annabi's predecessor, to Port-au-Prince to take charge of MINUSTAH in an interim capacity.

Accompanying Ban in Haiti were UN Development Program head Helen Clark, top UN peacekeeper Alain Leroy, UN humanitarian chief John Holmes and Susana Malcorra, who is in charge of the world body's field support operations.

Holmes on Friday appealed for 562 million dollars from the world community to help three million quake victims in the western hemisphere's poorest country for a period of six months.

The money is to be used for urgently needed food, water and sanitation, medical supplies, tents and blankets, logistics and education.

Ban last toured Haiti with former US president Bill Clinton in March 2009 to urge the international community to aid the island nation after it was battered by hurricanes the previous year.

Clinton and fellow former president George W. Bush, named by the White House as special coordinators of aid to Haiti, launched an appeal Saturday to raise tens of millions of dollars for the stricken country.

Ban returns to the United Nations headquarters in New York on Monday for a Security Council meeting to discuss coordination of the massive international relief effort under way in Haiti.

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