Aid and supplies trickle into Haiti as rescuers race against time

The Red Cross is estimating that 45-50,000 people may have been killed by the earthquake in Haiti and close to 3 million Haitians are affected. On the third day after the earthquake struck near Port Au Prince, thousands remain trapped beneath the rubble of collapsed buildings and rescuers are racing to clear the debris and find survivors. The UN estimates that half of all buildings in the worst-hit areas are damaged or destroyed.

Medical personnel continue to struggle to treat the thousands of injured using limited supplies and facilities, and salvaging equipment from hospitals destroyed from the quake. Doctors without Borders says it's a race against time as wounds become infected. Stefano Zannini is Head of the Mission in Haiti. He spoke to reporters earlier today by phone.

“Patients rescued during the last hours are transported by car, by motorbikes, by pickups, even by doors used like stretchers.”

The organization says food and water are running short. They are also waiting for inflatable operating centers and surgical specialists which have been delayed due to the devastated transportation infrastructure and a lack of aviation fuel on the island. Oxfam international has begun flying water, medical and shelter equipment to Santo Domingo, to be carried by land to the quake zone.

FSRN reporter Ansel Herz has been in Haiti since last Fall and was in Port au Prince when the quake hit. He spoke with Margaret Barnett, who was looking for her son, shortly after the disaster struck.

“My experience, I live in [Talbott] 36, my house is crushed down so I’m just out in the street looking for family members and see if my son was alive or not.

Any hope? What hope? Who’s going to -- What’s going to happen? What kind of help? There’s no hospital. I don’t see no emergency nothing. There’s nothing, nothing. Nothing.”