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Search for survivors ends in Haiti as death toll put at 111,000

Other News Materials 23 January 2010 21:50 (UTC +04:00)
The Haitian government declared the search-and-rescue phase of relief operations over on Saturday as the first official estimate put the death toll from the devastating earthquake at more than 111,000 people.
Search for survivors ends in Haiti as death toll put at 111,000

The Haitian government declared the search-and-rescue phase of relief operations over on Saturday as the first official estimate put the death toll from the devastating earthquake at more than 111,000 people, dpa reported.

The focus of a massive international relief effort underway in Haiti now shifts to helping survivors, though there could still be some limited efforts to look for people in the rubble.

In total, 132 people were rescued by international search teams since the magnitude-7 quake struck the impoverished Caribbean nation on January 12, the United Nations said.

To date, the Haitian government counted 111,481 confirmed deaths across the country, which was already the poorest in the Western hemisphere.

In the capital, Port-au-Prince, hundreds gathered outside the National Cathedral for the funeral of Haiti's archbishop Joseph Serge Miot.

President Rene Preval was among the mourners, in a rare public appearance since the earthquake. He was seated alongside his wife Elizabeth.

Some people followed Preval after the ceremony, protesting, with some even chanting the name of former president Jean Bertrand Aristide, who was ousted from power in 2004.

Mourners also paid tribute to Charles Benoit, the vicar general of the Port-au-Prince diocese, whose body was also found in the ruins of the Notre-Dame de l'Assomption cathedral in Port-au-Prince. His white casket stood alongside that of Miot.

People with means, meanwhile, were being encouraged to leave the capital and find accommodation elsewhere. According to UN estimates, about 1 million people might be fleeing the city for the countryside.

Shelter for Haiti's more than 600,000 homeless was a primary concern for the UN, along with an "overwhelming" number of people with untreated injuries.

The international organization Medecins Sans Frontiers (Doctors Without Borders) warned of increasing tensions and a rise in the number of wounds from gunshots and machetes in some slums, which were plagued with violence even prior to the earthquake.

But the UN also reported improvements in the massive efforts to get aid to those in need, including food and medicine.

Officials from 20 nations were set to meet in Montreal on Monday to lay plans for coordinating aid to quake-stricken Haiti and set the groundwork for a donor's conference for long-term rebuilding, possibly to be held in March.

US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner were among those planning to attend. Delegates from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Uruguay, Mexico, Costa Rica, Spain, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Japan were also expected at the Friends of Haiti meeting.

Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua have announced plans to boycott the meeting, saying they oppose the strong US military presence in the Caribbean.

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