Haiti’s government asks for international aid after deadly earthquake strikes country

Haiti government asks for international military assistance in the wake of devastating earthquake

Haiti’s central government has called for international military assistance to help it tackle a humanitarian disaster after an earthquake struck the Caribbean country.

In an email statement to AFP, the government asked the United Nations to deploy aid teams to the country and “send all available forces to assist the nation.”

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“The first and most pressing need is for basic relief items — in particular, water, food, shelter and basic medical attention,” the text of the email said.

The email statement came after days of deadly quakes that have killed over 8,000 people, according to news reports.

The devastating quake, the United Nations said, destroyed “hundreds of thousands” of buildings and displaced thousands more.

In addition to water, shelter and medical personnel, the email said the government needed “to urgently send relief items, mainly in cash.”

The government said the quake had killed at least 2,000 people. The government said the death toll would be higher given reports of possible mass graves of people killed by building collapse.

The earthquake, the United Nations said, destroyed buildings in the capital Port-au-Prince and in other cities and towns, including Gonaives and Les Cayes.

The quakes killed at least 2,000 people so far, the United Nations said on Friday.

“The situation in Port-au-Prince is extremely dangerous. People are fleeing and there are reports of many bodies in the streets,” said U.N. Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos.

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The United Nations added that aid workers “are assessing the needs of the people of Port-au-Prince and the surrounding region” adding that it was too early to determine how widespread the devastation was.

The United Nations estimated the amount of damage from the quake in Port-au-Prince at $200 million, and said that

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