Up to 3 million in need after Haitian earthquake

GENEVA – Haiti's devastating earthquake has left an estimated 3 million people in need of emergency aid, a Red Cross official said Wednesday, as aid groups and governments scrambled to send tons of disaster relief to the impoverished Caribbean nation.
Humanitarian officials said the proximity of the quake's epicenter, only 10 miles (15 kilometers) from the capital Port-au-Prince, and Haiti's crumbling infrastructure meant it was impossible to gauge how many people might be dead or wounded.
"There's probably 3 million people potentially affected," said Paul Conneally, spokesman for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent societies, basing the estimate on Haiti's population of 10 million and previous Red Cross experience in earthquake relief."Port-au-Prince has been massively impacted," Conneally said. "There are many, many people trapped in the rubble."
The neighboring Haitian cities of Carrefour and Jacmel may also be heavily damaged, said Elizabeth Byrs, a U.N. humanitarian spokeswoman.
The Red Cross said Haiti's disaster relief teams were "completely overwhelmed."
"There's no structured response at this point," spokesman Simon Schorno told The Associated Press...

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