SUNDAY. Spokeswoman for the U.N. Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance Elizabeth Byrs says 132 people have been rescued by international search and rescue teams since the earthquake struck. At the peak of the response, she says there were 67 teams in Haiti consisting of approximately 2,000 staff and 160 dogs. Haiti's government has declared the search and rescue phase for survivors of the earthquake over, the United Nations said.
A multinational rescue team last night tunnelled beneath a collapsed hotel in Port-au-Prince to free a 24-year-old man only hours after the government had officially declared an end to rescue missions. A Greek rescue team that had found Wismond Exantus had only arrived in Haiti on Friday to be told that there was nothing left for them to do. Undaunted they set about helping in the United Nations clean-up operation.
Official Haitian government figures put the number of confirmed dead at nearly 111,500 and the number of homeless people around Port-au-Prince at more than 600,000. Byrs says these figures are only preliminary and will change once the assessment missions are completed. Donation figures from the "Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief" say that US$57 million has been raised through the telethon.
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