Aid workers and authorities in earthquake-ravaged Haiti warn tensions are rising as survivors become more desperate, waiting for food, water and medical care to reach them.A huge international relief effort is under way. Haiti and the United States have signed an agreement giving the U.S. control of the airport in the capital, Port-au-Prince, where international relief teams are working to get emergency aid to city residents.
But four days after the quake reduced the capital to rubble, the relief efforts are moving slowly. Aid workers report patience is wearing thin, and without some help soon, the situation could degenerate into lawlessness and chaos.
There have been numerous reports of looting. Witnesses also report men with machetes have been roaming the streets at night, helping themselves to whatever they can find in wrecked homes.
Haiti's capital is now devoid of a functioning police force. When the earthquake struck, it destroyed the city's prison, allowing thousands of inmates to escape.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton travels to Haiti Saturday to get a first-hand look at relief efforts, days after tens of thousands of people were killed, and many other left homeless.
Clinton plans to meet with Haitian President René Preval and other officials, along with members of the U.S. government team on the ground.
Clinton said she will limit her visit to the confines of the airport so as not to disrupt relief efforts. Secretary Clinton said she planned to take relief supplies with her and that later, the same aircraft will carry Americans and others being evacuated.
Clinton is traveling with Rajiv Shah, the new head of the U.S. Agency for International Development.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is scheduled to be in Haiti Sunday. Mr. Ban has appealed for $550 million to meet the earthquake victims' most urgent needs. He also said the window of opportunity to save those beneath the rubble is closing, but that search and rescue operations are continuing in what he called "an expedited way."
He said the U.N. is also coordinating aid distribution, but that difficult logistics and limited capacity at the airport are slowing relief efforts.
The bodies of the dead litter the streets. Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive estimates that 100,000 people were killed. Various Haitian officials have said some 40,000 bodies have been buried so far in mass graves.
Meanwhile, the top U.S. military chief, Admiral Michael Mullen, says up to 10,000 U.S. troops will either be in Haiti or offshore by Monday to help distribute aid.
A U.S. aircraft carrier, the USS Carl Vinson, with 19 helicopters aboard arrived off Haiti's coast Friday to serve as a floating airport.
In Washington Friday, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said the Haitian capital's port is unusable, posing problems for long-term recovery projects.