President says this is 'moment that cries out for US leadership' as death toll estimated by aid agency hits 50,000

This article is more than 10 years old

This article is more than 10 years old

Barack Obama today announced a large US relief effort for Haiti, where between 45,000 and 50,000 people are feared dead after a devastating earthquake.

The US president said America would give $100m to the aid effort for the stricken Caribbean country and pledged that the people of Haiti "will not be forgotten".

Obama said he had told US agency and department heads to put Haiti at the top of their agenda. "This is one of those moments that cries out for American leadership," Obama, flanked by his most senior officials, told reporters.

Obama's impassioned remarks came as international rescue teams today began arriving in Haiti, where the death toll from Tuesday's earthquake has been put at between 45,000 and 50,000 by the Haitian Red Cross, the first estimate released by a relief organisation.

Aid aircraft from China, France, the US and Spain flew into Port-au-Prince, while a British specialist rescue team that arrived overnight in the neighbouring Dominican Republic also arrived in the Haitian capital.

Gordon Brown described the earthquake as a "tragedy beyond imagination" and urged the British public to support emergency appeals.

"The past 24 hours have been truly horrific for the people of Haiti. It is a catastrophe that is still unravelling," he told a news conference.

He said many people were still buried in the rubble and in need of urgent rescue.

The British government announced a £6.15m donation "to help kickstart humanitarian relief in Haiti".

"The most pressing need is for international search and rescue teams, including firefighters from all over Britain, to get on with their work of saving lives," Douglas Alexander, the international development secretary, said.

"But, at the same time, there is an overwhelming requirement for food, water, sanitation, shelter."

The Lincolnshire chief fire officer, Mike Thomas, leading the British rescue team – many of whom were recently involved in a similar rescue operation in Sumatra – said it would immediately begin liaising with agencies on the ground.

"Our first priority is to assess the needs and start to identify areas where people are still trapped," he told the BBC.

The party includes 71 rescue specialists, dogs, heavy equipment and a four-man team from the British government.

A US aircraft carrier, the Carl Vinson, was expected to arrive off the coast today, and the US navy said the amphibious assault ship Bataan, with a 2,000-strong Marine unit, has been ordered to sail as soon as possible.

Another 3,500 US soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division are also heading to the country to assist with disaster relief and security, amid fears that law and order could collapse. Three hundred US medics were also being sent.

The US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, pledged long-term help for the crippled government. Parliament, the national palace, and many government buildings collapsed and it was unclear how many politicians and officials survived. The main prison also fell, allowing criminals to escape.

"The authorities that existed before the earthquake are not able to fully function. We're going to try to support them as they re-establish authority," Clinton told CNN.

Hundreds of Cuban doctors already in Haiti helped treat the injured in field hospitals.

The French foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, said three planes touched down to evacuate around 60 injured people to hospitals on the Caribbean islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe. He told France Inter radio that two additional French relief planes were also on their way.

Journalists in Port-au-Prince said the devastated city's emergency services had been completely overwhelmed by the magnitude 7.0 earthquake, the largest to strike Haiti in two centuries.

"This is a particularly grim sight," Matthew Price, a BBC correspondent speaking from a hospital in the capital, said.

"The stench is overwhelming. There are over 100 bodies here, adults and, at my feet, a baby. Perhaps even more uncomfortable is that there are people bedding down for the night … sleeping among the dead."

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said head wounds, crushing injuries and severe trauma were the most common cases needing treatment.

Field treatment centres have been set up outside hospitals, while a refugee camp has been established near the airport.

Amid the gloom, there were moments of celebration when survivors were pulled alive from the rubble.

Among those rescued was Danielle Trépanier, a Canadian logistics co-ordinator with MSF, who spent almost 24 hours trapped in the debris of a staff house.

The International Committee of the Red Cross set up a website to help survivors locate relatives and friends. About 1,360 Haitians, mostly in the US and Canada, registered on the site within hours of it going live.

The earthquake is the latest disaster to hit Haiti, which has suffered a succession of hurricanes in recent years.

"This is much worse than a hurricane," Jimitre Coquillon, a doctor's assistant working at a makeshift triage centre, said. "There's no water. There's nothing. Thirsty people are going to die."

The International Red Cross estimated that three million people – one-third of the population – could need emergency relief, while the Haitian president, René Préval, said the damage was "un­imaginable".

The prime minister, Jean-Max Bellerive, told CNN the final death toll could be well over 100,000, while Youri Latortue, a senator, told the Associated Press that 500,000 may be dead. Both admitted that they had no way of knowing.

Alexander said 32 Britons were thought to be living in Port-au-Prince. Half had yet to make contact with the UK's ambassador to Haiti, he said, but he added: "There are no indications of British casualties."

The American Red Cross said the aid organisation had already run out of medical supplies, with spokesman Eric Porterfield explaining that the small amount of medical equipment and medical supplies available in Haiti had been distributed.

The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), a coalition of 13 relief agencies, is taking donations on a special phone line, 0370 60 60 900, and through its website. It is expected to launch a television appeal tomorrow. A spokesman said giving money was the best way for people to help, enabling supplies to be bought as close to the disaster area as possible and sent straight to those in need.

Some aid agencies had already started trying to help those in affected areas but the spokesman said: "The aid effort isn't on the scale that's required … we need people's help to scale it up urgently."

Save the Children said 2 million children could have been affected.

Jasmin Whitbread, the chief executive, said children were particularly vulnerable in the disaster.

"Many have lost or been separated from their parents," she said. "They are living outside among the devastation. They are shocked and traumatised, and need to be in a safe place."