Thousands feared dead in Haiti quake---szdail...

A MAJOR earthquake rocked Haiti on Tuesday, killing possibly thousands of people as it toppled the presidential palace and hillside shanties alike, and leaving the poor Caribbean nation appealing for international help.

A five-story U.N. building was also brought down by the 7.0 magnitude quake, the most powerful to hit Haiti in more than 200 years according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The headquarters of the U.N. peacekeeping mission collapsed, with at least 11 peacekeepers reported dead yesterday, and scores of others missing. The head and vice head of the U.N. mission were also unaccounted for.

The Red Cross Society of China announced yesterday to donate US$1 million to Haiti and a 50-member Chinese rescue team departed for Haiti later yesterday afternoon.

The team consists of search and rescue personnel, who have conducted many rescue tasks of this kind in past years, and three sniffer dogs, Liu Xiangyang, vice chief of the Chinese National Earthquake Disaster Emergency Rescue Team, said.

The team will also take food, equipment and medicine with them.

Chinese leaders are concerned with the safety of Chinese nationals in the quake-hit area, said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu.

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The Center for Consular Assistance and Protection under the Foreign Ministry will provide 24-hour consultation services, said Jiang.

The United States and other nations also began organizing aid efforts, alerting search teams and gathering supplies that will be badly needed in Haiti.

The international Red Cross and other aid groups announced plans for major relief operations.

Television footage from the capital, Port-au-Prince, showed scenes of chaos on the streets with people sobbing and appearing dazed amid the rubble.

The quake’s epicenter was only 16 kilometers from Port-au-Prince, which has a population of about 1 million, and aftershocks as powerful as 5.9 rattled the city throughout the night and into yesterday. Reports on casualties and damage were slow to get out of Haiti due to communication problems.

As the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, Haiti is ill-equipped to respond to such a disaster, lacking heavy equipment to move debris and a sufficient force of emergency personnel.

“I am appealing to the world, especially the United States, to do what they did for us back in 2008 when four hurricanes hit Haiti,” Raymond Alcide Joseph, Haiti’s ambassador to Washington, said in a CNN interview.

Sara Fajardo, a spokeswoman for Catholic Relief Services, told the Los Angeles Times that its representative in Haiti said the death toll could be in the thousands.

Brazil’s army said at least four of its peacekeepers were killed and a large number of its troops were missing.

U.S. President Barack Obama said his “thoughts and prayers” were with the people of Haiti and pledged immediate aid. A late-night White House meeting involving various arms of the government was held to coordinate the U.S. response.

The Inter-American Development Bank said it would provide US$200,000 in immediate emergency aid. The World Bank, which said its local offices were destroyed but that most staff were accounted for, plans to send a team to help Haiti assess damage and plan a recovery.

The U.S. Coast Guard said it was sending cutters and aircraft close to Haiti to give humanitarian assistance.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s office said in a statement France was sending rescue services to help operations in Haiti and find French citizens there.

The quake hit at 5 p.m. and witnesses reported people screaming “Jesus, Jesus” running into the streets as offices, hotels, houses and shops collapsed.

The presidential palace lay in ruins, its domes fallen on top of flattened walls. CNN reported on its Web site that Haitian Ambassador Joseph said President Rene Preval was safe, but gave no further details.