Aid struggles to reach Haitians

Aid agencies are struggling to reach the up to three million of people affected by an earthquake that has devastated Haiti, levelling buildings and burying thousands of people in the rubble.

At least 300,000 people were estimated to be homeless in Port-au-Prince on Friday, more than 48 hours after one in 10 homes in the capital collapsed, the United Nations said.

Many more people were believed to be sleeping on the streets fearing aftershocks will cause more buildings to fall.

‘Logistical challenge’

Rescue and aid efforts have been been hampered by blocked roads, severed communications lines and the difficulties faced by relief agencies that have lost personnel and seen their office destroyed.

The capital’s port was too badly damaged to handle cargo and supply planes arrived at the airport faster than ground crews could unload them, prompting aviation authorities to restrict non-military flights for fear jets would run out of fuel while waiting to land.

Alejandro Lopez-Chicheri, senior spokesman for the World Food Programme for Latin America, Central America and the Caribbean, said that Haiti was “completely on the ground”.

“The roads, many of them are still to be opened, and on the ones that are open there are still people concentrated on the sides of the roads,” he told Al Jazeera from Port-au-Prince.

“This is a logistical challenge. Before the earthquake struck we were already assisting one million people here, we are considering it will be at least double that after this earthquake.”