Haiti earthquake survivors blockade roads with piles of corpses

Although billions of pounds has already been pledged to the devastated country, help is only just beginning to trickle through to survivors.

Rescue efforts have been blighted by poor infrastructure and lack of heavy lifting equipment - as well as the damage wrought by the disaster.

The humanitarian crisis in the capital is the worst many aid workers have ever seen.

With streets and buildings littered with rotting corpses and filled with the sounds of screams, some have compared it to a scene from hell.


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Rezene Tesfamariam, Haiti director of Plan International, described people using bare hands, shovels and pick axes to reach people still trapped beneath collapsed buildings.

He said: "There are people still alive underneath, you can hear them crying for help, but time is running out. It is beyond the means of individuals to reach them.

'They are trying move concrete with their hands. What is desperately needed is proper machinery and equipment to lift the rubble.

Mr Tesfamariam, who lost his own home in the quake, described the disaster was the worst he had witnessed in his many years as an aid worker.

'What should we do?

'I have seen refugees fleeing war and cyclones hitting villages, but in those cases at least you have time to run away,' he said.

'In just a few seconds so many lives were wiped out. Port-au-Prince looks like it has been bombed.
My house has been destroyed. I went back there (in the aftermath) and a neighbour called my name. She said there were children under the rubble. I shouted to them and they called back.


'I reported it to the UN so they would know where to come and get them out but there are people everywhere crying out for help. It is one thing I will never be able forget.'


Thousands of injured people spent a third night twisted in pain, lying on pavements waiting for help as their despair turned to anger.

'We've been out here waiting for three days and three nights but nothing has been done for us, not even a word of encouragement from the president,' said Pierre Jackson, nursing his mother and sister who lay whimpering with crushed legs.
What do we do?