Bush,Clinton to lead Haiti relief funds

Four days after the earthquake struck,with many cries for help going silent,not nearly enough search and rescue teams or emergency supplies could make it here. The UN said it had fed 8,000 people,while two million to three million people remained in dire need.

The disaster has prompted a world-wide relief effort,and Americans could do their part,Bush said,by sending money.

I know a lot of people want to send blankets, Bush said. Just send your cash.

Bush and Clinton,who is also the UN special envoy for Haiti,have started a website to raise to collect donations.

Presidents Bush and Clinton will help the American people to do their part,because responding to disaster is the work of all of us, said Obama,flanked by the two former presidents while speaking in the White House. In these difficult hours,America stands united.

Responding to disaster must be the work of all of us, Obama said.

In Haiti,however,patience was wearing thin and reports of looting increased.

For the moment,this is anarchy, said Adolphe Reynald,a top aide to the Mayor of Port-au-Prince.

The UN said that 9,000 people had been buried in mass graves and collecting bodies had become one of the few ways to earn money.

They pay me $100 a day, Valencia Joseph,32,said on Friday,as he was called to tug a body free of wires.

The Obama administration granted Haitians living in the US protection from deportation for 18 months and permission to work.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was scheduled to fly into Port-au-Prince on Saturday,where she was to meet Haitian President René Préval.

Hillary said her trip was an attempt to get a look at both the damage and the unfolding relief effort. We will also be conveying very directly and personally to the Haitian people our long-term unwavering support,solidarity and sympathies, she told reporters.

The US took firmer control of the emergency operation on Friday. Haitis government ceded control of the main airport to American technicians to speed the flow of relief supplies and personnel.

The Federal Aviation Administration,which began managing air traffic into Haitian airspace,issued a stern warning to allow aid to flow in a more orderly way: no planes from the US would be allowed to land without express permission from the agency. Exceptions to the new rule would be granted only to humanitarian aid planes,a notice from the agency said.

Adm Mike Mullen,the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,said that 9,000 to 10,000 American troops were expected in Haiti,on shore and off,by Monday,and that the Pentagon was poised to send more. Speaking at a Pentagon news conference,Admiral Mullen said that about 5,000 would be ground troops,who would help with security and logistical support,among other duties; the rest would be on ships.

Looting of houses and shops increased on Friday,and anger boiled over in unpredictable ways: residents near the citys overfilled main cemetery stoned a group of ambulance workers seeking to drop off more bodies.

In New York,UN Secretary General,Ban Ki-moon,said he recognised that the slow pace of the relief effort could make people in Port-au-Prince restive.

The time window is ever shrinking, said Florian Westphal,a spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva.

At the State Department,Rajiv Shah,the coordinator for the relief effort who is traveling here with Hillary,said the US had not given up on finding survivors.

There is still an important open window of time today,tonight, he said.