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Haiti Relief Making Progress but Frustration Builds


Aid workers in Haiti say earthquake relief efforts are starting to make an impact in Port-au-Prince, but frustration is mounting among Haitians who say they lack food, water and a government.

Officials say field hospitals and food aid are spreading across the city, while flights into the airport are increasing.

Despite that, officials with Doctors Without Borders in Haiti complained Monday that two of their planes carrying medical teams and supplies were diverted to the neighboring Dominican Republic. They say this has slowed their ability to perform amputations and other surgeries.

The World Food Program plans to distribute rations to 95,000 people around the capital on Monday. Haitians ravenous from days without nourishment say the food is not nearly enough.

In New York, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon asked the U.N. Security Council to send 3,500 extra troops and police to Haiti.

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton is traveling to Haiti Monday to deliver supplies and meet President Rene Preval.

Haitians complain Mr. Preval has been largely absent since a 7.0 magnitude earthquake flattened nearly the entire city last week.

The presidential palace collapsed in the quake. Mr. Preval and members of his government have been meeting in a police station outside the capital. Critics say he has spent more time talking to the international media than to his own people. The president has yet to make a national address on the crisis.

The United States is leading relief efforts in Haiti, taking over the airport and deploying thousands of troops to provide security to emergency workers.

Some looting and violence has been reported across the city as people become increasingly desperate for food. Loris de Filippi, with Doctors Without Borders in Haiti, says his team has treated people with gunshot wounds. The incidents are being investigated.

Tens of thousands of bodies have been buried in mass graves. Haitian officials say the death toll could rise to as many as 200,000.

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