Mexican aid efforts "extraordinary": Haitian official

MEXICO CITY, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- The efforts Mexico has made to aid quake-torn Haiti have been "extraordinary," a Haitian diplomatic official in Mexico said Wednesday.

"I would call the response from Mexicans extraordinary on several levels, from ordinary people and authorities to central and local government," said Moise Dorce, Minister-Counselor at the Haitian embassy in Mexico City, who is in charge of the aid work.

"There has been a very human response," Dorce told Xinhua. "People immediately realized how hard it is and are working to make things better."

Two trucks are loaded with donated goods daily. The streets outside the embassy, in the posh suburb Polanco, are stacked high with crates of donations: water, rice, beans, medicines, canned food, mattresses, diapers and toilet rolls.

Both Haitian and Mexican volunteers are busy filling trucks with goods, which will head down to the eastern port Veracruz and then be loaded onto the Mexican navy ship "Hausteco" that has carried 200 tons of aid to the Caribbean nation.

Embassy staff estimate the embassy alone has sent between 250 and 300 tons of aid to Veracruz, and there are many more collection points across the country.

The Constitution Square in central Mexico City is also packed with volunteers organized by the city government sending goods to Veracruz for shipping.

Dorce said Mexico's biggest telephone company Telmex had raised 10 million pesos (784,000 U.S. dollars) on the first day of an appeal for funds to send aid to Haiti, where officials say at least 75,000 people have died in the devastating quake.

Dorce said he was particularly proud to be in a nation that responded so quickly. "Mexico City's quake increased the sensibility of the population. It makes them understand more about what other people have experienced."

Mexico's Topos de Tlatelolco, a volunteer quake rescue team that travels across the world when a disaster strikes, flew immediately to Port-au-Prince once the quake struck Haiti last week.

But the crisis is not over. Food was running short and aid reached only a small number of Haitians, Dorce said.

Many people were sleeping on the streets fearing more aftershocks would occur after a powerful one hit the country on Wednesday morning, he said.

"We see the quantity of aid that arrives here, but the people in Haiti don't know. They just see they have nothing, and they are desperate," Dorce added.

The World Food Program estimates it is now feeding 200,000 people in Haiti. However, this remains short of what is needed.

Other UN bodies estimate as many as 3 million residents in Port-au- Prince and the surrounding cities are homeless and need assistance.

Needs remain varied. Embassy staff say they need urgent help from a logistics company to pack up donations. Tents are also urgently needed as many people stay in the streets and Haiti is prone to heavy rains.

Other staffers say the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine is the most important.