CRI听力: UN Chief Calls for International Support in Wake of Devastating Haiti Quake

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has issued an urgent call to the international community to assist Haiti following the catastrophic earthquake that has devastated the impoverished Caribbean nation's capital.

CRI's UN correspondent Shen Ting has the details.

Reporter:

Ban Ki-moon told reporters at the UN Headquarters in New York that buildings and infrastructure in Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti, suffered extensive damage. Basic services, including water and electricity are near the brink of collapse.

"There is no doubt that we are facing a major humanitarian emergency and that a major relief effort will be required."

Expressing gratitude to nations rushing aid to the earthquake's victims, he called for the world to "come to Haiti's aid in this hour of need" and announced that the U.N. would provide 10 million US dollars for relief from its emergency fund.(www.hXen.com)

Ban also said the United Nations is mobilizing an emergency response team to help coordinate humanitarian relief efforts and is expected to be on the ground shortly.

UN humanitarian chief John Holmes said the U.N. will be issuing an emergency appeal for Haiti in the next two or three days and urged countries to donate medical supplies and equipment, clean water, food and shelter materials

"We know there are searching rescue team will be on the way from the US, from China, from France, from Dominican Republic. And many other countries I think will be also sending their teams as quickly as possible. So that's the first priority. After that obviously the usual priority should be there in terms of clean water, food and shelter for the population who are obviously in a status of shock."

Meanwhile, the headquarters of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti sustained serious damage along with other UN installations, following the 7.0-magnitude quake.

At least 150 UN staff are missing including the mission chief, Hedi Annabi and his deputy special representative Luiz Carlos da Costa.

Troops, mostly from Brazil, serving with the mission have been working through the night to reach those trapped under the rubble, and several badly injured people have been rescued and transported to the mission's logistics base which remains intact.

Alain Le Roy, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping, said that fewer than ten UN staff were pulled out of the collapsed Christopher Hotel, with some of them confirmed to have died.

The mission was set up in 2004 and has more than 9,000 military and police personnel and nearly 2,000 civilian staff. Some 3,000 of the mission's troops and police are in and around Port-au-Prince.

Shen Ting, CRI news, UN headquarters in NY.