Briton missing after Haiti quake

People carry a coffin containing the remains of an earthquake victim (AP)
12 April 2012

A British woman is among the missing in Haiti as rescue workers continue to search for survivors in the earthquake-ravaged country.

UN worker Ann Barnes, 59, originally from Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, has not been accounted for since the building she was working in collapsed on Tuesday.

A Foreign Office spokeswoman confirmed a British national was missing and said investigations were continuing.

"We are aware of reports that a British national is missing and we are aware that the United Nations is reporting a number of casualties at its headquarters in Port-au-Prince," said a Foreign Office spokeswoman.

The first British search and rescue workers have arrived in the country to scour the rubble. About 50,000 people are feared dead, with millions more injured, orphaned or homeless.

Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) has launched television and radio appeals for donations but agencies were facing difficulties reaching survivors.

Supplies and aid workers - including 64 search and rescue staff from UK fire services - were held up on Thursday as Port-au-Prince's airport struggled to handle the influx of flights. But aid was beginning to trickle through on Friday despite a total collapse of the country's infrastructure.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown called for the world to respond as the British Government pledged £6 million aid. US President Barack Obama promised 100 million dollars (£61.4 million) for the relief effort and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) added a further 100 million dollars.

Mr Brown also urged Britons to keep giving generously for the people of Haiti as he visited the headquarters of the fundraising appeal. The Prime Minister reassured donors that their money would get through after chatting to staff at the Disasters Emergency Committee in north London.

Trucks carrying supplies began arriving in the capital as survivors set up camp amid piles of rubble. But as searches continued to survey the wreckage, the full scale of the tragedy was still unfolding. Aid workers reported seeing piles of bodies in the streets and children sleeping among the dead while the grief-stricken try to dig their relatives from the rubble with their bare hands.

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