Rescuers Face Extra Challenges in Haiti

(Jan. 13) -- As emergency teams from around the world head for Haiti, relief agency employees who live in the devastated nation are already working to ease the suffering of earthquake victims.

The 7.0-magnitude quake that hit Tuesday afternoon killed hundreds of thousands of people, Haiti's prime minister told CNN. Many more are feared trapped in the rubble of buildings that crumbled in and around the capital, Port-au-Prince.

"There are many, many people trapped in the rubble," said Paul Conneally, spokesman for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. "We're not optimistic at the moment."

Urban search and rescue teams from Los Angeles and Fairfax County, Va., are expected to arrive Wednesday to help with the immediate priority of finding survivors in collapsed buildings. Each team has 72 firefighters and six search dogs.

The U.S. Agency for International Development has sent two disaster response teams to find out exactly what kind of help is needed in various locations. It will deliver some aid through nongovernmental organizations that already operate in Haiti. Those groups include Save the Children, the Salvation Army, the Red Cross, Catholic Relief Services and World Vision.

Relief work in the Western Hemisphere's most impoverished country was difficult even before disaster struck. Now, it's even harder. Communications and transportation top the list of challenges, according to World Vision spokeswoman Rachel Wolff.

She said World Vision has nearly 400 staffers in Haiti, and their first priority is to move hurricane supplies -- which are stockpiled in areas outside of Port-au-Prince where storms are more likely to hit -- into the ruined city.

"Bringing those into the capital with damaged roads, damaged infrastructure ... that's a challenge for any aid agency working in Haiti from day to day, let alone when there's been a natural disaster," said Wolff.

World Vision, a Christian humanitarian group, had one container of equipment -- including hygiene kits, kitchen sets, water jugs and purification tablets -- already positioned in the capital. That should be enough to help as many as 1,500 families get through the next few days, according to Wolff. Staffers will also distribute first aid kits, which are especially important for immediate treatment of the injured because the quake destroyed hospitals.

Louise Ivers, clinical director of Partners in Health, said in an e-mail that her organization had set up a field hospital in Port-au-Prince and that she had issued an emotional plea for bandages, pain medicines and other supplies.

The U.S. Coast Guard has planes surveying the damage and ships headed toward Haiti. The hospital ship USNS Comfort is expected to steam out of Baltimore en route to the disaster area later Wednesday.

U.S. military helicopters may be required to lift in supplies to areas cut off by quake damage and to evacuate the injured to sites where health care can be delivered.

"I have directed my administration to respond with a swift, aggressive and coordinated effort to save lives," President Obama said Wednesday. "This must truly be an international effort."

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon echoed Obama's message, calling on "all members of the international community to come to Haiti's aid in this hour of need."

Among the nations joining the U.S. in sending help to Haiti are Venezuela, Mexico, Britain, France and Italy.