Haiti: Security Concerns Mount; Desperation Grows; More Aid Coming 
January 18, 2010 

There was looting at a Port-au-Prince supermarket Sunday. (David Gilkey/NPR)
By Mark Memmott

It's been nearly six days since a massive earthquake flattened much of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and areas around the city. Here are some of the latest headlines and reports. We'll keep updating this post throughout the day, so be sure to hit your "refresh" button to see our latest additions. And we'll be adding fresh posts to The Two-Way.

Update at 9:35 p.m. ET: Devastation Is 'Mind-Blowing'.

Update at 3:30 p.m. ET:

-- Calling Attention To Red Cross And It's Aid Effort, Obama Sends His First 'Tweet'.

-- Bill & Chelsea Clinton In Haiti.

Update at 2 p.m. ET: VIDEO: Police Fire In Air To Disperse Looters In Port-au-Prince.

Update at 11:40 a.m. ET: 'Doctors Without Borders': Coordination Of Aid Still Not Sufficient.

Update at 10:22 a.m. ET: World Food Program Says Aid Is Ramping Up Quickly; Will Deliver 10 Million Ready-To-Eat Means In Next Week.

Update at 10 a.m. ET:

-- AP Reporter Helps Quake Victims.

-- Wyclef Jean Is 'Disgusted' By Questions About His Yele Haiti Charity.

Update at 9:10 a.m. ET -- The European Union and its member states today pledged about $600 million in emergency and long-term aid for Haiti.

Update at 8:10 a.m. ET. -- On Morning Edition, NPR reporters filed several stories from Port-au-Prince, including:

Residents Say Police Shot Some Looters -- People tell NPR's Carrie Kahn they saw officers execute four men they had caught looting a supermarket. And she watched as desperate Haitians crowded around aid trucks and as international troops tried to maintain order:


Quake Survivors Gather In Makeshift Shelters -- Calling them tent cities is an exaggeration, NPR's Greg Allen reported. Many Haitians, he says, are sitting on mattresses or blankets, with little else to protect them. "A stench of dead bodies," he said, permeated the area:


-- Beyond Port-au-Prince, Damage Is Also Substantial -- NPR's Jackie Northam was with a search-and-rescue team Sunday when it reached the city of Leogane, which she says was essentially flattened. The people there, she says, were grateful to see the rescuers -- who did not find any survivors in the buildings. "Two-story buildings became one-story buildings," she reported, and there were no air pockets in the rubble where someone might still be alive. "There were no survivors" in those buildings:


-- "Desperation Mounts As Bottlenecks Slow Aid": "Prayers of thanksgiving mixed with mounting cries of desperation in Haiti's earthquake-shattered capital, Port-au-Prince, on Sunday. While dozens gathered for an open air Mass beside the ruins of the city's cathedral, logistical bottlenecks continued to keep much of the aid pouring into the country from reaching victims. Even when aid was delivered, there was not yet enough security in place to prevent chaotic scuffles over water and food." (NPR.org.)

-- U.S. General Warns That 150,000 To 200,000 Dead May Be "Start Point": "As the numbers of dead and injured in Haiti continue to climb, Lt. General P.K. Keen, the man charge of military relief efforts there says, 'we are going to have to be prepared for the worst'. When I asked General Keen about death toll estimates ranging between 150,000 and 200,000 people, Keen said, 'I think the international community is looking at those figures, and I think that's a start point.' " (ABC News' Jake Tapper on the Political Punch blog.)

-- Security Is An Increasing Concern. Gunshots are now commonly heard in Port-au-Prince -- most of them from police trying to maintain order. Meanwhile, 2,000 U.S. Marines are due there today. NPR's Greg Allen reports:


-- "No Chance To Give The Dead A Proper Burial": "In Haiti, funerals are as expensive as weddings, tombs often more elaborate than the homes of the living. Yet thousands -- victims of Haiti's worst natural disaster -- are now being shoveled into mass graves. On Sunday, Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive said that government workers -- road crews in ordinary times -- had collected and buried 70,000 bodies, all but 5,000 from the capital city, Port-au-Prince." (Miami Herald.)

-- "Cruise Ships Still Find A Haitian Berth": "Sixty miles from Haiti's devastated earthquake zone, luxury liners dock at private beaches where passengers enjoy jetski rides, parasailing and rum cocktails delivered to their hammocks. The 4,370-berth Independence of the Seas, owned by Royal Caribbean International, disembarked at the heavily guarded resort of Labadee on the north coast on Friday; a second cruise ship, the 3,100-passenger Navigator of the Seas is due to dock." (The Guardian.)

For more of NPR's coverage of the crisis in Haiti, click here.

If you're looking for information on charities doing work in Haiti, click here.