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An injured child receives medical treatment in Port-au-Prince - Source: Reuters -
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New Zealand-funded aid has arrived at a children's hospital in earthquake-stricken Haiti, says aid agency Save the Children.
The organisation's Haiti Earthquake Emergency Appeal raised $100,000 last week, which funded a 6-metre container filled with hygiene kits and food and water enough for 2000 people, said Save the Children NZ communications advisor Nicole Were.
It was filled in the Dominican Republic and sent overland Sunday to the Hospital de l'Espoir, or Hope Hospital, which serves 130 children.
"The hospital will use the supplies for both the hospital and the institutions. We provided some of the goods to people who were in the street as well," Were says.
For many in Haiti the five days since the magnitude-7.0 quake hit have turned into an aching wait for the food, water and medical care slowly making its way from an overwhelmed airport rife with political squabbles.
The Pan American Health Organisation now says 50,000 to 100,000 people perished in the quake.
While aid is reaching the country, growing impatience among the suffering has spawned some violence.
Save the Children's staff and supplies are coming in through the Dominican Republic due to the damage and congestion at Port-au-Prince's international airport.
"We are buying food, water and hygiene supplies and trucking them across the border to allow us to reach the children and their families with help when they need it the most," Were says.
Save the Children staff member Similien Mackendy, a 24-year-old accountant, was killed in last week's earthquake, and another seven are missing, five days after the 7.0 earthquake killed at least 50,000 people.
Australian aid worker, Save the Children's Ian Rodgers, said every house on the hillside behind the organisation's offices was damaged.
"You pass by huge buildings that have been reduced to rubble. People were standing on the streets in a state of utter shock and bewilderment. The next day you could hear even more wailing of people mourning. Then every so often you would here a huge cheer as someone was pulled alive from the rubble. It was a surreal contrast."
Now, nearly a week since the disaster, people were sheltering in makeshift camps with whatever belongings they have been able to salvage, he says.
"Some media reports have said there has been looting and anger, but it's important the outside world know the Haitian people are extremely resilient and to date we are seeing extraordinary patience, courage and generosity as they try to cope with this disaster."
People are still being rescued, Rodgers says.
On Saturday a two-year-old girl Winnie was plucked out of the rubble, dusty and scared but unscathed by a translator working for an Australian television crew, near the compound.
"But there's so much more to be done, and the scale of the task is daunting. During these first days we must get relief supplies out as quickly as possible. What's needed now is basic items such as food, water and medicine as well as hygiene kits that contain items such as soap and toothbrushes. We know from our experience in other disasters the faster we can reach people the more lives we can save."
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