Haitian earthquake

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Jan. 14 (UPI) -- Planes carrying international aid headed to Haiti where Tuesday's earthquake toll will be perhaps 100,000 dead and billions of dollars in property loss.

The 7-magnitude quake was centered not far from the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince and devastated the city of 2 million. Survivors worked to dig out the injured, whose pleas for help could be heard coming from mounds of debris.

Tens of thousands of survivors wandered the streets looking for help, water and food. Nerves were further frayed by aftershocks -- more than three dozen since the quake struck Tuesday afternoon.

Pilots of planes carrying medical supplies, water, food and tents for temporary shelter used visual flight rules to land and take off in Port-au-Prince, since air traffic control was inoperable.

Rescue workers lined the bodies of those who died along the street. Thousands of people are missing, including the head of the United Nations' mission in Haiti. The Roman Catholic archbishop and dozens of priests were among the dead.

The quake hit late Tuesday afternoon when many public buildings were occupied. Many of those structures collapsed in the powerful shaking, burying an untold number of people in hospitals, schools and government buildings, including the Parliament.

A worker at Port-au-Prince's airport told The Miami Herald: "It was Jesus doing his thing. I just prayed and prayed and prayed. I felt like I was already dead."