Survival stories bring hope but time running out for entombed

Among the dramatic rescues that have spurred relief workers' efforts are those of an eight-year-old boy named Kiki who was reunited with his mother, and 15-day-old baby Elisabeth Joassaint, who spent half her

life trapped in rubble.

The International Medical Corps said it was caring for a child found in ruins on Wednesday. The boy's uncle said relatives pulled the five-year-old from the wreckage of his home after searching for a week.

More than 120 people have been rescued by international teams since last Tuesday's earthquake, which measured seven on the Richter scale.

The death toll so far is estimated at 200,000, according to government figures relayed by the European Commission, with 80,000 buried in mass graves.

The commission has also raised its estimate of the level of

homelessness to two million, from 1.5 million, and said 250,000 people needed urgent aid.

The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) said it has received 38m in donations so far, less than a week after its first broadcast appeal, and the UK government has pledged 20m.

A UK rescue team has been searching the remains of a school where 100 children were missing. The group from Rapid UK was called in after pleas from the headmistress for help.

Sophie Hensley, 40, said the group had hope because children

are "incredibly resilient", and the fact the school is in a river

valley may mean there is access to water in the ruins.

However, a decision will soon have to be made to stop searching for survivors and allow aid work for the living to take over.

Ms Hensley said: "The decision to stop is mainly taken by local people, we say 'is anyone still missing?' and they say 'no they're all dead' and it's the living that need help."

Mass graves are being dug on a hillside north of Haiti's capital using earth-movers to bury earthquake victims, as aid groups warn disease could add to the death toll. Clinics have 12-day patient backlogs, untreated injuries are festering, and makeshift camps housing thousands of survivors could foster disease.

Dr Greg Elder from, Doctors Without Borders, said: "The next health risk could include outbreaks of diarrhoea, respiratory tract infections and other diseases among hundreds of thousands of Haitians living in overcrowded camps with poor or non-existent sanitation."

In the sparsely populated wasteland of Titanyen, north of Port-au-Prince, burial workers said the macabre task of handling the never-ending flow of bodies was traumatising. "I have seen so many children, so many children.

"I cannot sleep at night and, if I do, it is a constant nightmare," said Foultone Fequiert, 38, his face covered with a T-shirt against the overwhelming stench.

Workers say they have no time to give the dead proper religious burials or follow pleas from the international community that bodies be buried in shallow graves from which loved ones might eventually retrieve them.

"We just dump them in, and fill it up," said Luckner Clerzier, 39.

Medecins Sans Frontieres said staff are working through queues of patients who needed treatment. Operating theatres are being used night and day.

A flotilla of rescue vessels led by the US hospital ship Comfort has arrived at Port-au-Prince harbour to help fill gaps in the global

effort to deliver water, food and medical help.

The ship, which has a medical staff of 550, is also treating critical patients who have been airlifted for surgery from the capital's University Hospital.

Desperate need for donations

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

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.

Money can also be donated over the counter at post offices and at high street banks.