Over 100 UN staff missing after deadly Haiti quake

UNITED NATIONS, (Reuters) – Several bodies were pulled from the wreckage of the U.N. headquarters in Haiti, which collapsed during a deadly earthquake, and over 100 U.N.  staff members were missing, U.N. officials said today.
U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky told reporters that the  damage was vast and “tens, if not hundreds of thousands of  homes” had been damaged in the earthquake, which struck at 5  p.m. yesterday.
U.N. peacekeeping chief Alain Le Roy, told reporters that  fewer than 10 people, “some dead, some alive,” had been  extracted from the rubble of the 5-story U.N. headquarters  building but more than 100 remained unaccounted for.
Earlier, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the missing  included the chief of the U.N. mission in Haiti, Hedi Annabi,  and his deputy, but he could not confirm reports that they had  died. Annabi was meeting a visiting Chinese police delegation  at the time, U.N. officials said.
The U.N. mission, known as MINUSTAH, was headquartered in  the former Christopher Hotel in the capital Port-au-Prince,  where administrative staff worked. Most of MINUSTAH’s 9,000  troops and police were located elsewhere.
U.N. humanitarian affairs chief John Holmes told reporters  that 3-3.5 million people were living in areas affected by  severe shaking during the earthquake and its aftershocks. It  was not clear how many people had died.
“Initial reports suggest a high number of casualties,”  Holmes said.
The main priority, Holmes said, was search-and-rescue  operations to find and extract buried people. He said a Chinese  team had arrived at the airport in Port-au-Prince and that two  U.S. teams were expected later today.
Further search-and-rescue teams were expected to arrive  from France, Iceland and the neighboring Dominican Republic in  the near future, he said.
Ban said he would send Le Roy’s deputy, Edmond Mulet, to  Haiti, possibly as early tomorrow, and that a U.N. emergency  response team would also head there as soon as possible.
The U.N. chief also said $10 million would be released  immediately from the world body’s central emergency response  fund to assist aid efforts.
Holmes said the United Nations would organize a flash  appeal to raise more emergency funds for Haiti over the next  few days.