Haiti president pleads for tents; nearly 500 schools destroyed by quake

PORT-AU-PRINCE -- With international aid still slow to reach many survivors, Haitian government officials began distributing food directly to people in the capital on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive told The Miami Herald that before leaving for Canada Sunday, he ordered the purchase of dry foods such as rice, pasta and beans to help feed the estimated 2 million people in need of nourishment after a 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck Haiti on Jan. 12.

``We could not wait anymore that the international community organize by their standards,'' he said, noting that most of the aid is slow to go out because the 20-plus international aid groups distributing food need security escorts.

Haitian government food distributions started in Cite Soleil, with security provided by the Haitian National Police. More distributions are planned Wednesday in the Carrefour neighborhood, and further west of the capital, in hard-hit Leogane, Bellerive said.

While there appear to be contradictory reports on how much aid is in the country -- some say not enough -- one thing is clear: many more people have not received aid than those who have.

The World Food Program reported this week that since the quake struck it has delivered meals to about 400,000 people -- far below the organization's estimate of 2 million people in need.

WFP officials have cited security concerns, particularly tumultous crowds at distribution sites, for the slow pace of food distribution.

With many markets in Port-au-Prince closed, and the price of food reportedly doubling outside of the capital, the need for adequate food distribution is increasing, according to a WFP report on relief efforts in Haiti.

Inadequate distribution of food, water and medicine in the country has created the impression among of a leaderless state.

Bellerive said he went to Montreal for an international conference on rebuilding Haiti with some specific expectations -- and it was not to talk money.

``We wanted to erase the idea we had no government,'' he told The Herald. ``That was clearly stated.''

Bellerive also wanted international partners to know that Haiti's emergency needs will not end for months, maybe years.

Among the most pressing problems is the nearly 1 million people made homeless by the earthquake.

While more than 235,000 have migrated to the countryside, where many are staying family and friends, another estimated 800,000 are living in makeshift camps, mostly in Port-au-Prince.

At Mais Gate, a shantytown for the homeless near Port-au-Prince airport, one family used a Haitian flag to pitch its tent. Another fashioned its tent from a five-by-five cloth adorned with an image of Jesus.

Residents of the camp said only about a dozen of nearly 1,000 families there have real tents. The rest are makeshift dwellings erected with wooden branches, dug in the ground with machetes and rocks.

Haitian and relief officials are asking the world to send tents, tents and more tents to shelter hundreds of thousands of homeless who are sleeping outdoors before a mini-rain season starts next month.

``If it rains, we'll get all wet,'' said Dieubon Accine, 17, whose family improvised their tent from USAID rice and bean sacks. ``And the ground will turn into mud.''

From his makeshift dwelling, he could see over the airport wall to where U.S. Army soldiers have erected a sea of large green tents.

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