Growing unrest as aid slow to reach hungry quake survivors

United Nations peacekeepers patrolling the Haitian capital have warned there is rising anger that aid is not getting through with the added risk of convoys becoming targeted by looters.

The quake's destruction of Port-au-Prince's main prison has also complicated the security situation with about 4,000 prisoners having escaped.

As many Haitians spent their fourth day without help yesterday, reports emerged of gangs of young men and boys armed with machetes roaming around in search of food and water.

"People who have not been eating or drinking for almost 50 hours and are already in a very poor situation," a UN humanitarian spokeswoman said. "If they see a truck with something, or if they see a supermarket which has collapsed, they just rush to get something to eat."

Haitian Michel Legros, who was waiting for rescue workers to help search for seven relatives buried in his collapsed house, said: "They are scavenging everything. What can you do?"

The UN World Food Programme said looting of its food supplies stored in Port-au-Prince appeared to have been limited, contrary to earlier reports. It said it would start handing out 6,000 tons of food aid recovered from a damaged warehouse in the city's Cite Soleil slum.

Meanwhile, hard-pressed Government workers have begun burying thousands of bodies in mass graves. The Red Cross estimates 45,000 to 50,000 people were killed in Tuesday's devastating earthquake.

Hundreds of bodies have been stacked outside the city morgue in Port-au-Prince, and limbs of the dead can still be seen from the rubble of crushed buildings.

Relatives of a missing British woman said they feared the worst as the search for survivors continued.

United Nations worker Ann Barnes, 59, has been unaccounted for since the building she was in collapsed. Irene Marquet said she believed her "wonderful" sister was buried among the rubble of the UN's headquarters in Port-au-Prince.

She said: "There's been absolutely no trace, which is horrendous."

Haitian President Rene Preval said that over a 20-hour period, Government crews had removed 7,000 corpses from the streets and morgues.

More than 4,000 buildings have been destroyed or damaged in the Port-au-Prince earthquake, according to the first findings from the European Commission's Joint Research Centre.

About 2,000 houses and apartment blocks have partially or totally collapsed, as well as a similar number of other buildings – including Government offices, schools and hospitals.

The international aid effort continued yesterday as the British people donated 2m to the Disasters Emergency Committee's Haiti appeal.

DEC chief executive Brendan Gormley said: "We are delighted at the generosity of the British people even before our major appeals hit the airwaves.

"Efforts on the ground have been hampered by a lack of power and communications problems after the devastating quake but aid is starting to get through and DEC members are working hard in the field."

Gordon Brown yesterday urged Britons to keep giving generously for the people of Haiti as he visited the London headquarters of the fundraising appeal .

From Europe, Asia and the Americas, more than 20 governments, the UN and private aid groups were sending plane loads of high-energy biscuits and other food, water, tents, blankets, water-purification gear, heavy equipment and helicopters. Hundreds of search-and-rescue, medical and other specialists have also headed to Haiti.

British holiday firm Thomson Airways was last night in talks with the Department for International Development to offer free cargo space for aid supplies to Haiti via its flights to the Dominican Republic.

The firm has also offered free seats on flights for aid workers who need to reach the disaster zone as quickly as possible.

Relief plane heads for disaster zone

A plane carrying more than 10 tonnes of vital supplies will take off today bound for Haiti.

Water, sanitation, health and shelter equipment arranged by UK charity Oxfam is en route to the Caribbean country which was struck this week by a deadly earthquake which killed thousands and left many more without water, food or shelter.

Also on the Oxfam plane are shovels and picks for local civil workers to clear rubble to search for trapped victims in the capital, Port-au-Prince, following Tuesday's quake.

A spokeswoman said that 17 Oxfam International humanitarian experts arrived in Haiti yesterday to prepare to start distributing the aid.

The relief effort has been severely hampered by communication with satellite phone and limited internet access the only means of getting in touch with people.

The charity's Haitian headquarters itself was destroyed in the earthquake and one member of staff has been confirmed killed.

"This is a nightmare for survivors and aid workers alike. We are now beginning to get aid through despite the challenges," said Oxfam's international director Penny Lawrence.

Oxfam's Trailtrekker event, a long distance walk held in the Yorkshire Dales last summer, raised more than a 350,000 much of which goes into pools of funding to be deployed as and when humanitarian disasters like this one occur.

Trailtrekker returns in the summer to the Dales.

Anyone wanting to sign up to Trailtrekker can log on to www.oxfam.org.uk/trailtrekker. To make a donation to Disasters Emergency Committee – a group of the 13 leading UK aid agencies including Oxfam visit www.dec.org.uk

HOW TO MAKE A DONATION

Survivors of the earthquake are in desperate need of medical supplies as well as food, water and emergency shelter.

The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) is taking donations through a special phone line, 0370 60 60 900, and through its website at www.dec.org.uk.

Donations can also be made over the counter at post offices and high-street banks.

The money will support DEC's 13 member agencies - Action Aid, British Red Cross, Cafod, Care International UK, Christian Aid, Concern Worldwide, Help the Aged, Islamic Relief, Merlin, Oxfam, Save the Children, Tearfund and World Vision.