Canadian military relief arrives in Haiti

OTTAWA, Jan. 14 (UPI) -- A specialized Canadian military team arrived in earthquake-ravaged Haiti Thursday aboard a C-17 aircraft containing a portable hospital.

The 20-member Disaster Assistance Response Team took off from Canadian Forces Base Trenton (Ontario) in the morning and a second C-17 took off in the afternoon.

In Halifax, Nova Scotia, two Canadian warships with 500 sailors and tons of relief supplies also got under way for Haiti in what Defense Minister Peter MacKay told reporters was "record time," the Globe and Mail reported.

The mobile hospital can treat 250 walk-in patients per day and house 10 in-patients. The team also took water purification equipment, communications gear and rescue equipment such as concrete cutters and chain saws, the military said.

The federal government announced it would match all personal relief donations up to a maximum of $50 million, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. said.

The magnitude 7 earthquake flattened much of Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas Tuesday afternoon, and death toll estimates range from 10,000 to more than 100,000.

So far, at least three Canadians were known dead, including a Haitian-born couple from Montreal and a relief nurse from Elmira, Ontario, the Foreign Affairs department said.

Two Royal Canadian Mounted Police peacekeepers were also missing, the force said.