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Toll of up to 200,000 feared in Haiti: US general
Washington (AFP) Jan 17, 2010 The international community fears the death toll from the earthquake in Haiti could be as high as 200,000, the US general running the military relief effort indicated Sunday, cautioning that no one could know for sure. "We are going to have to be prepared for the worst," Lieutenant General Ken Keen, deputy commander of US Southern Command, said when asked by ABC News whether 150,000 to 200,000 people may have died in the disaster. He called those figures a "start point," but cautioned that "it's too early to tell exactly what the casualty count will be." Previous toll estimates from the Haitian government and aid agencies after Tuesday's 7.0-magnitude quake that flattened the capital Port-au-Prince and other towns in western Haiti have ranged between 50,000 and 100,000.
Haiti: Facts and figures after the quake Here are some of the latest figures provided by various organizations, which are constantly being modified and updated. DEATH AND DESTRUCTION Death tolls are difficult to estimate. The Red Cross has spoken of 45,000 to 50,000 dead. But Lieutenant General Ken Keen, the US general running the relief effort, said the international community should be prepared for the worst and the toll could be as high as 200,000. At least 25,000 corpses have already been buried, according to Haitian government figures. The United Nations has estimated that three million people were affected, and 300,000 left homeless. Some 40 tent cities have sprung up in Port-au-Prince, the Red Cross has estimated. Some 80 to 90 percent of buildings in the town of Leogane, just outside Port-au-Prince near the epicenter of Tuesday's quake, were destroyed, and 50 to 60 percent of buildings in Jacmel to the west were leveled. The International Organization of Migration has estimated that 200,000 families, comprising up to one million people, need immediate shelter and non-food assistance. RESCUES Some 27 international search-and-rescue teams, with about 1,500 personnel and 115 rescue dogs, are on the ground, the US State Department said. Sixty percent of the areas in Port-au-Prince have already been searched. Scores of people, mostly Haitians but of many nationalities, have been rescued from the rubble. The United Nations put the figure of survivors found by foreign rescue teams through Saturday at 70. Another four were found Sunday, rescuers told AFP. AID The UN humanitarian department has appealed for 560 millions dollars from the world community to assist Haiti quake victims. The World Food Program launched an appealed for 279 million dollars to feed two million people for the next six months. Plans to provide one-week rations of ready-to-eat meals for two-million people. USAID and partners have some 7,100 metric tons of emergency food aid already in Haiti, estimated at 5.5 million dollars, the State Department said. So far the United States as provided 87 million dollars in humanitarian aid. US military helicopters airlifted 27,000 humanitarian daily rations from Guantanamo Bay to Port-au-Prince on Saturday. Paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division have already delivered more than 70,000 bottles of water and 130,000 rations. Concern Worldwide aid workers were distributing 2,000 jerry cans and 100,000 water purification tablets on Sunday, the British-based Disasters Emergency Committee said in a statement. Save the Children gave water, food and hygiene supplies to 2,000 people at a hospital Saturday, it added. And 1,000 families received water and clothing kits from World Vision. A British Red Cross convoy which traveled overland from the Dominican Republic was Sunday setting up a 300-bed field hospital. Oxfam was Sunday distributing water to thousands of people in two locations in Port-au-Prince, installing temporary flexible tanks that hold up to 10,000 liters. Three USAID and office of US foreign disaster assistance water treatment facilities have arrived on C-130 aircraft. They have a combined capacity of 300,000 liters of drinking water a day. The aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson, docked off Port-au-Prince, has delivered 30 pallets of relief supplies to be transported to distribution points, State Department said. The International Organization for Migration said that in Jacmel, it had distributed 18,000 aquatabs, 600 jerry cans, 300 hygiene and kitchen kits, 600 mosquito nets, as well as plastic sheeting and tarpaulins. LOGISTICS The port at Port-au-Prince is likely to be out of operation for 60 to 90 days, the Pentagon has said, and damage to the fuel-delivery pier means no fuel supplies can be unloaded. Estimates that two-days of fuel left in bulk storage. The airport is damaged but functioning round-the-clock under US military control. The United Nations has recommended using the road from Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic as the main entry point for humanitarian aid. The WFP is setting up a shuttle service between Port-au-Prince and Santo Domingo with flights for shuttling passengers three times a day.
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