Haiti Earthquake Update: Day Eight
This is Day Eight of CBSNews.com's Haiti earthquake coverage. All times are Eastern Standard Time. For our previous coverage, see Day Seven, Day Six, Day Five, Day Four, Day Three and Day Two. And for a broader overview, see our section of full coverage.
For information on how to donate to relief organizations click here.
7:22 p.m. ET: CBS News continue to deliver round-the-clock updates from on the ground in Haiti and around the world. On Tuesday's "CBS Evening News," medical correspondent Dr. Jennifer Ashton reported on the difficult life-and death choices being made every day at the 13 hospitals now open in Port-au-Prince.
David Martin in Washington continued his weeklong coverage of the U.S. military's efforts in Haiti. Air drops have proven effective in getting needed aid into the country but they can't be conducted without troops on the ground to secure drop sites and distribute the aid. Troops and equipment are still trickling in by ship and through the bottlenecked airport.
And Byron Pitts and his crew delivered harrowing images and accounts of the violence on the streets of the capital - with looters wielding knives and rudimentary weapons - and the risk to citizens from the 3,000 inmates who escaped the national prison, taking weapons, killing guards, and setting the decimated prison building on fire as they went..
6:50 p.m. ET: USAID outlined today's prioritization for flights coming in to the Port-au-Prince airport.
Priorities change daily. For Jan 19 they are:
1) Security for in-country transportation and distribution of emergency relief supplies.
2) Medical equipment and supplies.
3) Water and food distribution.
4) Shelter and settlement support for affected populations.
5) Fuel, water, sanitation and hygiene.
5:37 p.m. ET: Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano authorized the temporary activation of up to 900 reserve U.S. Coast Guard service men and women to bolster the more than 500 Coast Guard personnel already serving in Haiti in support of the U.S. government's response to the devastation caused by the Jan. 12 earthquake.
5:30 p.m. ET: The United Nations Secretary-General called for a moment of silence throughout the U.N. system at 4.53 p.m., to coincide with the one-week anniversary of the earthquake. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon laid a wreath in honor of the victims of the recent earthquake in Haiti in the General Assembly Building Public Lobby.
4:30 p.m. ET:AP issued a report with estimates on the foreigners missing or dead after the devastation in Haiti.
-Antigua and Barbuda: 2 missing.
-Argentina: 1 dead.
-Austria: 1 dead.
-Belgium: 1 dead, 1 missing.
-Brazil: 19 dead and 1 missing.
-Britain: 1 dead.
-Canada: 12 dead, 699 unaccounted for.
-Chile: 1 dead, 1 missing.
-China: 8 dead.
-Costa Rica: 2 missing.
-Dominican Republic: 24 dead, 24 missing.
-El Salvador: 2 missing.
-France: 12 dead, government fears 20-30 may have died.
-Germany: 1 dead, 16 missing.
-Italy: 2 dead, including a U.N. official, 2 missing and feared
dead, 5 unaccounted for.
-Jordan: 3 killed, 23 wounded, all from international
peacekeeping force.
-Kenya: 1 dead, two missing
-Mexico: 1 dead, 27 missing out of 131 believed to have been
living there.
-Netherlands: 11 missing, including 3 newly adopted children; 3
injured.
-Peru: 1 dead.
-Poland: 4 missing.
-Spain: 3 dead, 9 unaccounted for.
-Tunisia: at least 1 dead (head of U.N. mission Hedi Annabi)
-United States: 28 dead, 1 a U.S. government employee; 2
missing. Some 45,000 Americans are in the country.
-Uruguay: 1 dead, 2 missing (including a 3-year old).
-United Nations: 37 U.N. personnel confirmed dead, nearly 330
missing. Some personnel may also be included in national counts.
-European Union delegation: 3 missing.
4:07 p.m. ET: Scores of U.S. troops landed on the lawn of Haiti's shattered presidential palace Tuesday to the cheers of quake victims and the U.N. said it would throw more police and soldiers into the sluggish global effort to aid the devastated country.
The U.N. forces are aimed at controlling outbursts of looting and violence that have slowed distribution of supplies, leaving many Haitians still without help a week after the magnitude-7.0 quake killed an estimated 200,000 people.
4:00 p.m. ET: Working to get more relief aid into earthquake stricken Haiti, the U.S. military says it will begin using two additional airports in the next two days. A Doctors Without Borders cargo plane carrying 12 tons of medical equipment, including drugs, surgical supplies and two dialysis machines, was turned away three times from Port-au-Prince airport since Sunday night, according to the organization.
3:50 p.m. ET: National Security Advisor General Jones is chairing a meeting at the White House on Haiti. Expected attendees include: Vice President Biden, Secretary of State Clinton, Secretary of Defense Gates, Secretary of Homeland Security Napolitano, and Secretary of Health & Human Services Sebelius.
3:25 p.m. ET: Hundreds of thousands of people have donated to Haiti using their cellphones, and text donations have now topped $22 million, according to the Washington Post.
3:15 p.m. ET: Popular musician Wyclef Jean spoke to journalists in New York City, staunchly defending his Yele Haiti charity, which has faced criticism over alleged improper use of funds:
3:00 p.m. ET: A top immigration official says Haitians probably will be able to start applying as early as Thursday for permission to stay temporarily in the United States.
2:55 p.m. ET: A charity relief mission carrying dozens of young children from an orphanage in earthquake-ravaged Haiti has arrived in Pittsburgh.
2:50 p.m. ET: Influential gang leaders who escaped from a heavily damaged prison during the country's killer earthquake are taking advantage of a void left by police and peacekeepers focused on disaster relief.
2:45 p.m. ET:Priorties in Haiti continue to be urban search and rescue; health, food and water; and overall coordination, said Tim Callaghan, Senior Advisor, Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) during a briefing today. "Everything we do is coordinated with the government of Haiti," he said to make clear that the U.S. is not in charge of operations.
To date, 72 individuals have been rescued from collapsed structures,up one from yesterday. There are 43 search and resuce teams in country.
2:00p.m. ET:Aerial views of Haiti devastation taken Jan. 19:
1:05 p.m. ET: AP: A Cincinnati man happened to have his video camera on last week when an earthquake devastated the small nation of Haiti.
Rick Hursh was videotaping other missionaries playing and talking with children at the H.O.P.E Orphanage when the earthquake struck last Tuesday.
Minutes before the earthquake, you could see and hear just how much fun the young orphans were having as visitors from Cincinnati toured the facility.
However, moments later, the earthquake struck, turning the young girls' sounds of laughter into screams of terror.
12:44 p.m. ET: Latest update from AP--U.N. officials say the security situation is under control and has not hampered distribution of food to 270,000 Haitians.
Some 52 rescue teams race against time to find people still alive under collapsed buildings, after saving 90 people.
The World Health Organization says at least 13 hospitals are working in or around Port-au-Prince. Doctors warn of threats to survivors from infection and disease.
12:30 p.m. ET: AP reports that at least 30 members of Haiti's football federation, including an undetermined number of players, have died in the country's earthquake.
In a report to world governing body FIFA on Tuesday, the Caribbean Football Union said the dead included players, referees, coaches, and administrative and medical officials of the federation. The federation's headquarters collapsed during last week's earthquake.
12:15 p.m. ET: Scores of U.S. troops landed on the lawn of Haiti's shattered presidential palace Tuesday to the cheers by quake victims eager for reinforcements in the sluggish global effort to bring food, water and shelter to the devastated country.
Thousands more U.S. troops are on the way and the U.N. Security Council was expected to approve a boost in its peacekeeping and police forces to help control outbursts of looting and violence that have slowed relief efforts.
Haitians jammed the fence of the palace grounds to gawk and cheer as the troops emerged.
11:45 a.m. ET: American Airlines says it has warehouses full of donated food in Miami, but hasn't been able to fly into Haiti's airport, AP reports. This comes as U.N. officials appeal for more government donations to help meet the need of 100 million meals over the next 30 days.
11:45 a.m. ET: Army Major General Daniel Allyn, second in charge of U.S. military operations in Haiti, gave an update this morning on current activities and priorities.
The three top priorities, he said, are increasing tactical capabilities, such as ground vehicles to distribute supplies; supplying water and putting self-sustaining water systems in place; and opening the port and delivering the construction equipment necessary to begin reconstruction.
Gen. Allyn expects water to be self-sustaining in some areas in 4 to 5 days.
Regarding air drops, Gen. Allyn said that the delay in aerial delivery was necessary until forces on the ground could secure the areas.
As a way to increase delivery of aid, several existing runways that are being assessed. "We are going to go to two more aerial ports of entry to take the pressure off Port-au-Prince," he said. "The first runway in Haiti proper will go into operation near Jacmel. We will begin to use that airfield for C-130 deliveries...to support the buildup of the Canadians."
"The other aerial port of entry being brought into service is San Isidro in the Dominican Republic. We are obviously very conscious of the need to have multiple ports of entry...also close to operational capability in south port of Port au Prince."
U.S. military is supporting the evacuation of American citizens, ranging from 800 to 1,000 a day, Allyn said. "There's a concurrent effort to evacuate other citizens...that's being prioritized by the international community...I'm confident they will continue to exert all resources to insure we will be able to meet the needs of every international citizen," he said.
Emerging incidents of instability are within the current capability of the U.S. military, Gen. Allyn said. "There are pockets of instability in Haiti and U.N. forces are working with the national police to address those when they arrive."
"We have people that need food and water and sustaining support...in some cases the instability occurs from that challenge. Some of it is criminal in nature. The prisons were destroyed and those prisoners are in the populace. We're working with the govt to maintain order and get emergency relief to the people," Gen. Allyn added.
9:45 a.m. ET: Following are updates on ground activities in Haiti:
On Jan. 18, 9,600 ten-liter water containers, 7,602 hygiene kits, 300 rolls of plastic sheeting, and ten water bladders arrived in Port-au-Prince from the USAID/OFDA warehouse in Miami. On Jan. 19, a commodity flight from the USAID/OFDA warehouse in Dubai delivered 40,200 ten-liter water containers, 13,056 hygiene kits, 200 rolls of plastic sheeting, six water treatment units, five standard medical kits, and eight water bladders.
A convoy departed Santo Domingo on January 19, including a 6,000 gallon fuel truck and a refrigerated container to be used as a morgue.
As of 5:00 AM ET, 1,692 evacuees departed Port-au-Prince; a total of approximately 4,500 have been evacuated to date. There are 250 Americans inside the embassy and zero outside. No Americans are at the airport or the landing zone waiting to board departing flights.
A 3.5 hour hold on all air traffic handled by the Port-Au-Prince air traffic control center began at 2:00 AM EST on today due to temporary airspace saturation.
The seaport at Port-Au-Prince should be at a minimal operating capacity by Jan. 21.
A confirmed 27 American citizens have died as a result of the earthquake.
One American citizen died at the airport awaiting evacuation on Jan. 18.
Governor Rendell and 28 orphans departed Port-au-Prince Jan. 19, and arrived in Orlando, Florida.
Consular Affairs (CA) identified and will forward, at opening of business today, the names of approximately 500 Haitian orphans to USCIS for possible parole or protected status processing. CA established a tracking database to monitor the cases.
Five Disaster Medical Assistance Teams (DMAT) are now on the ground in Haiti, and will provide support to eight severely damaged hospitals, health care centers, and the U.S. Embassy.
French President Sarkozy is planning to issue a statement this morning expressing satisfaction with U.S. and French cooperation regarding assistance to Haiti and praising "the exceptional" U.S. response. Sarkozy's statement follows the previous criticism by Cooperation Minister Alain Joyandet.
The USS Bataan arrived off-shore at 1500 EST, January 18, with the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit consisting of 2,000 Marines.
The Fleet Anti-Terrorism Security Team (FAST) of 53 marines arrived at Embassy Port-au-Prince at 0100 EST on January 19 to enhance embassy security.
The security situation in Haiti remains calm overall with no indications of mass migration towards North America. Isolated incidents of violence and sporadic looting continue. A curfew remains in effect.
The UN World Food Program (UNWFP) expects to expand feeding operations to 97,000 today, up from 67,000 on Jan. 18. UNWFP estimates it will require 100 million prepared meals over the next 30 days.
Major U.S. cell phone carriers will advance funds to the Red Cross to cover the $22 million in donations pledged for Haiti relief efforts via text, meaning funds will reach the organization within a week.
8:00 a.m. ET: CBS News foreign affairs analyst Pamela Falk offers some insight into why the U.S. may be coming under so much scrutiny from abroad over the aid effort in Haiti. She says U.S. aid efforts are often the largest and, by consequence, the slowest to reach their recipients. She says U.S. leaders have for decades been "frustrated by the fact that other countries deliver much less, but immediately."
"U.S. generosity is great, but preparedness is not," says Falk, "and Haiti is no exception."
"In the end, the U.S. will deliver the most aid, by far," adds Falk, "but the damage to the U.N. infrastructure compounded the problem of getting relief distributed in a situation where every minute mattered."
7:43 a.m. ET: Thousands of Haiti quake victims are struggling to board buses to flee hunger and violence in the shattered capital, hoping that food will be easier to find in the countryside.
4:51 a.m. ET: A charity relief mission that included Gov. Ed Rendell was carrying dozens of young children from an orphanage in earthquake-ravaged Haiti to the United States, where medical attention and, in some cases, adoptive families were waiting, Rendell's spokesman said. The C-17 cargo plane was expected to land at Pittsburgh International Airport early Tuesday morning, said the spokesman, Gary Tuma, who was at the airport.
From Monday night: As they have every night since the tragedy in Haiti began, CBS News' full team of correspondents has been delivering updates from Port-au-Prince.
Seth Doane
And Byron Pitts witnessed first-hand the restless anger boiling over as crowds demanding food and work clashed with U.N. peacekeepers.