Snapshot - Haiti Earthquake

PORT-AU-PRINCE - Haitian authorities say as many as 200,000 people died in the quake that devastated the Caribbean nation and three-quarters of the capital, Port-au-Prince, would need to be rebuilt. Gangs of robbers had begun to prey on survivors living in makeshift camps on sidewalks and streets strewn with rubble and scattered decomposing bodies.

NEWS

* Relief supplies are pouring in but logistical hurdles and scale of destruction preventing aid from reaching hundreds of thousands of victims.

* The United Nations appeals for more than half a billion dollars for Haiti and says it is already providing aid despite anger among survivors that they are getting nothing.

* U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will fly to Haiti to get a firsthand look at the earthquake relief effort as well as to help evacuate some Americans caught up in the disaster.

* U.S. and Haitian authorities impose tight restrictions on aircraft bound for Haiti due to crowding and logistical hurdles.

* Haiti's earthquake moved Hollywood and pop music stars to lead a rally for disaster relief donations and open their own wallets, led by Haiti-born hip-hop artist Wyclef Jean.

* U.S. cellphone users contribute more than $11 million to earthquake relief through text messages in what is being hailed as an unprecedented mobile response to a natural disaster.

* U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates says that aside from some scavenging for supplies and minor looting the security situation on the ground remains "pretty good."

* Local radio stations are broadcasting messages for people to put their dead out in the street to be picked up by trucks and taken to a mass grave.

* The U.S. military aims to have about 1,000 troops on the ground in Haiti on Friday, and thousands more in ships off shore.

* The U.S. eased restrictions permitting Haitians already in the United States illegally to stay for up to 18 months, but made it clear it would not apply to Haitians who try to enter now.

QUOTES

"These people have lost everything, They have nothing. They have been waiting for two days now. No one is helping us. Please bring us water or people will die soon." -- resident Renelde Lamarque, who has opened his yard to about 500 victims.

"We've been cooking rice with vegetables but there are no vegetables left and the chicken has stopped laying eggs." -- Andre Simon, 49, an office worker who set up his family in a tent made of wooden poles and bedsheets.

"Some aid is slowly getting through, but not to many people." -- Margaret Aguirre, a senior official with International Medical Corps.

"I heard the shots and got out of there. The police told us it was too dangerous to stay. People were looting and a body was being burnt." -- a foreign photographer, who asked not to be identified.

"The key is to get the food and the water in there as quickly as possible so that people don't in their desperation turn to violence or lead to the security situation deteriorating." -- U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates.

"We have lost everything. We are waiting for death. We have nothing to eat, nowhere to live. We have had no help. No one has come to see us." -- quake victim Andres Rosario, speaking at an improvised camp set up by survivors at a rubbish dump in Port-au-Prince.

"We have so much here and that country has nothing. Just the thought of it is horrific." -- magician David Blaine.