Lack of aid leads to anger among Haitians

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Jan. 15 (UPI) -- Patience is yielding to anger among Haitians who say they're still waiting for aid days after a 7-magnitude earthquake that struck Port-au-Prince.

Residents of the capital said they were angry, but not surprised, that they've been left on their own to rescue survivors, search for dead and fend for themselves, the Los Angeles Times reported Friday.

Hubert Benjamin, 59, said he blamed the Haitian government, saying he believed it would fritter away any international aid it received.

"I know if they give it to them to give to the Haitians ... I know already they won't give it to us," Benjamin told the Times. "Look at how many people die here on the ground. No one comes to see them. Right now there is still someone crying in a building down there."

Although some foreign medical crews set up field hospitals for Haitians injured in Tuesday's earthquake, some of the international rescue efforts were directed toward foreign victims, the Times said. Rescue crews were seen working at the U.N. mission headquarters and the Hotel Montana, a hub for the international community in Port-au-Prince.

"We need help," Rothin Massena, a 29-year-old student, told The Miami Herald. "Where is the international community for us? We don't have food. We don't have water. We don't have money."