Haiti earthquake: Drunk looters, desperate survivors

LOOTING is spreading in the Haitian capital as hundreds of young men, some drunk for extra "courage", roam the streets nearly a week after the earthquake which is now estimated to have killed 200,000 people.
While hundreds of millions of dollars have been pledged to help Haiti, aid is still not reaching some of the hardest hit areas because survivors are too scared of attacks on aid convoys to accept assistance.
But while the has Red Cross has warned that violence by desperate Haitians is growing, the top US officer on the ground, Lieutenant-General Ken Keen, has insisted: "The level of violence we see now is below pre-earthquake levels".
"Is there gang violence?  Yes.  Was there gang violence before the earthquake?  Absolutely," he said.
Thousands of peacekeepers, police and soldiers have been sent in to Haiti from nearby nations to restore order and help distribute aid.  Agencies on the ground in the capital, Port-au-Prince, have said the effort is now running more efficiently after the confusion of the initial aftermath of the 7.0 quake which hit last week.

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But the situation for survivors is still one of unimaginable horror.  Gangs of looters roam the streets - the top target is toothpaste, which is smeared under the nose to mask the constant stench of death.
In one instance, looters scavenging a collapsed market were fired on by police as they tried to steal bottles of rum, armed with broken bottles, machetes and razors.  "I am drinking as much as I can.  It gives courage," one young looter, carrying a piece of wood with nails in it, told the Associated Press.
As the death toll approaches that of the Boxing Day tsunami of 2004, there are still another 250,000 injured and 1.5 million left homeless in desperate need of attention.  Even those whose homes survived are sleeping on the streets for fear of aftershocks.
About 50,000 people are sleeping on a golf course in Port-au-Prince and the World Food Program is planning a tent city on the outskirts for 100,000, the AP reported.
Reports from the city have said about 70,000 bodies have been buried, but many more bodies still line the streets.
Survivors are reportedly dumping corpses at intersections in the hope aid agencies or authorities - even garbage trucks - will eventually remove them.
There have been some uplifting tales of survival emerging - such as the story of the text message to the UN that led to the rescue two days later of two adults and a young girl after they were trapped in a collapsed supermarket for 100 hours.
When rescuers shouted out seeking signs of life, a girl's voice came back: "I'm seven".  The girl, named as Ariel, reportedly said she was stuck next to a dead man but covered with food.
But while some hope remains, it is becoming more faint by the hour and Ariel's story is expected to be one of the last of its kind.
In another indication of the catastrophe Haiti is now living through, a Dutch charter plane is due to pick up 100 Haitian children - many but not all now orphans - for adoption outside the country.
The UN's humanitarian body has said hospitals are overwhelmed and suffering a severe shortage of supplies and staff.  It has also said the fuel shortage in Haiti was becoming "more and more critical".
Emergency workers are now reaching battered communities outside the capital, including Gressier, Petit Goave and Leogane, which were all flattened by the quake.  "Patients arrived on handcarts or on men's backs," said Medecins Sans Frontieres emergency coordinator Hans van Dillen.
Many foreigners are trying to flee - hundreds of US citizens, or people claiming to be, have formed a long line outside the US embassy in hopes of arranging a flight out of the country.