70 Thousand Bodies Buried Under Haiti's Ruins

(18 Jan 10 - RV) One week after a magnitude 7 earthquake destroyed the Caribbean island of Haiti, donor nations are meeting in the neighbouring Dominican Republic to start discussing reconstruction needs.
The UN has appealed for 550 million dollars in emergency funding, but streets piled with debris and insecurity are still slowing aid delivery.
At least 70,000 bodies have been confirmed buried following the Haiti earthquake.
The Pan-American Health Organization has estimated that at least 100,000 are dead, while a U.S. general on the ground in Haiti thinks that the death toll could reach 200,000 or higher.
Some 2,200 Marines with heavy earth-moving equipment, medical aid and helicopters are due to arrive in the capital Port-au-prince.  The U.S. Southern Command says it aims to have 10,000 U.S. troops in the area,  after Haitian President Rene Preval appealed Sunday for additional troops to help keep order. He said police and U.N. peacekeepers are overstretched and cannot contain crowds of looters.
However there are signs of progress as international medical teams begin to take over damaged hospitals.
The Churches main aid organization, Caritas Internationalis, is on the ground and reports that an emergency clinic and medical team is being flown in from Holland, with 120 tons of aid from Caritas partners on its way over land and sea.

Caritas Internationalis press officer Michelle Hough is in Port-au-prince.  She says the distribution of aid remains a challenge and that aid agencies fear a breakdown in public order: