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Haitians search the rubble of a building that collapsed in the earthquake in Port-au-Prince. — Reuters

WASHINGTON — With many nations vying to get urgent relief into Haiti after the devastating earthquake, US officials acknowledged yesterday it was ‘critical’ to better co-ordinate the influx of aid. Although the aid operation was picking up steam, it was still not reaching many of the survivors desperately scrambling for badly-needed food and water. Some simply stopped waiting, taking part in a massive exodus out of the devastated capital.

Donor nations were squabbling over what a Haitian official described as "major co-ordination problems at the airport" in Port-au-Prince now under US control and operating at its maximum capacity of 90 take-offs or landings per day. French, Argentine, Peruvian and Mexican flights were just some of many aircraft filled with rescuers and supplies that were turned back at the country's main port of entry. Peru finally sent 40 tonnes of aid by land yesterday from Santo Domingo after its two aircraft carrying the load were turned back two days in a row.

Haitian authorities were not being informed when planes arrive, so "when they land, there is no one in charge," said Michel Clancy, a Haitian government official who heads a committee in charge of co-ordinating water and food distribution. Challenges at the airport were only one part of the problem. Once supplies arrived, there were also major setbacks to delivering them to those in need. "The co-ordination piece in my opinion is huge and we must continue to work very close(ly) with the international community, donors and the government of Haiti to, again, identify priorities and get these supplies out as quickly as we can in a co-ordinated effort," a US aid official told reporters.

The United States was participating in co-ordination meetings every morning with other donors and non-government organisations, and food rations were being delivered to 14 distribution points. Armed looters were meanwhile scavenging through the ruined capital of Port-au-Prince, insecure even in the best of times, and now filled with the stench of rotting corpses as a sense of despair set in among exhausted survivors. There was no longer a functioning police force. Water purification tablets delivered late on Friday should be able to produce up to 300,000 litres of water for distribution in containers, according to the aid official.

More water supplies were being brought in from the Dominican Republic, located on the eastern half of the Hispaniola island it shares with Haiti. The United States was also providing 600,000 daily rations for survivors until a UN-backed World Food Programme plan swings into play. Helicopters from the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson had already made 16 trips delivering water and ready-to-eat meals by midday yesterday. The USNS Comfort, a US hospital ship, was on its way to Haiti from Baltimore, Maryland, while five international clinics were operational.

US urban search and rescue teams and firefighters had fanned out to work around the clock to rescue people still trapped under the rubble. They were being assisted by medical teams from 13 countries. But in a sign of the challenge — it can take more than 12 hours to free a single person from beneath a slab of concrete — the US teams had only managed to recover 15 Haitians and Americans by early yesterday. — AFP