*CNN reports:
Countries and aid groups large and small worked Thursday to help survivors in quake-ravaged Haiti in an international effort rivaling the response to the 2004 Asian tsunami.
They scrambled to help as people dug furiously to rescue loved ones trapped in the rubble on the streets of Port-au-Prince. International aid groups sought to provide medical care, food and water to tens of thousands after Tuesday’s devastating 7.0-magnitude earthquake.
….
Precise casualty estimates were impossible to determine. Haitian President Rene Preval said Wednesday he had heard estimates of up to 50,000 dead, but that it was too early to know for sure. The Haitian prime minister said he worries that several hundred thousand people were killed.
And Felix Augustin, the Haitian consul general to the United Nations, said more than 100,000 may have perished.
At least 16 U.N. peacekeepers were killed in the quake, as well as Joseph Serge Miot, the Roman Catholic archbishop of Port-au-Prince.
Search and rescue units geared up to save trapped people in the capital, where the quake pancaked houses and chased others out in the streets, prompting thousands to sleep out in the open on mattresses and cardboard boxes. Rubble-strewn roads, downed trees and a battered communications network hampered humanitarian groups trying to get supplies to victims.
*USAID has made available a fact sheet and map of the crisis in Haiti. Both are good resources for understanding the status of this situation.
*Politico reports that Secretary Clinton has made the decision to return to DC to help lead U.S. government Haiti quake relief efforts. You can read a recap of her various appearances on today’s morning shows here, and watch her appearance on CNN here:
*Just as he did yesterday, President Obama is expected to address relief efforts at 10:05 AM EST. You can watch that live here.
