There have been reports of looting in Port-au-Prince as survivors begged for aid still only trickling through.
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Logistical logjams have kept major relief from reaching most victims, many of them sheltering in makeshift camps on streets strewn with debris and decomposing bodies.
On the city's shattered main commercial boulevard near the port, hundreds of scavengers and looters swarmed over the wrecks of shops, carrying off anything they could find and occasionally fighting among themselves for a prized item.
They carried stones, knives, ice-picks and hammers, as much to defend themselves as to break into wrecked premises and slash open boxes to grab T-shirts, bags, toys and other items.
‘The distribution is totally disorganized. They are not identifying the people who need the water. The sick and the old have no chance,’ said Estime Pierre Deny, standing at the back of a crowd looking for water with his empty plastic container.
Watching the looters downtown, student Ricardo Fume said: ‘People have nothing to eat, so they steal these things to sell.’
Meanwhile, The United Nations mission chief in Haiti, Hedi Annabi of Tunisia, died in Tuesday's earthquake that devastated the country's capital, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has announced.
In a statement, Ban also confirmed the death of Annabi's deputy, Brazilian Luiz Carlos da Costa.
Earlier, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Haiti to assess earthquake damage and deliver relief supplies to the stricken Caribbean nation.
Ms Clinton, who brought senior US aid officials with her, flew in to meet Haitian President Rene Preval.
Ms Clinton, speaking to reporters on her plane, repeated that the US aid effort was coordinated with the Haitian government and the United Nations, which has about 7,000 peacekeepers on the island and primary responsibility for security.
‘We are working to back them up, but not to supplant them,’ she said, adding that the Brazilian-led U.N. force was the most familiar with the situation.
Around midday today, the devastated capital was hit by a strong 4.5-magnitude aftershock, four days after a massive quake destroyed much of the city.
The 10-kilometer (6.2-mile) deep aftershock struck just 25 kilometres from the capital, said the United States Geological Survey in a statement.
The death toll from Tuesday's earthquake is now estimated to be at least 100,000, with Haitian authorities saying it could rise to 200,000.
The United Nations, which said the earthquake was the worst disaster ever faced by the organisation, is considering sending 5,000 police, soldiers and peacekeepers to the country.
Meanwhile, Haiti has handed the US control of its main airport to bring order in the skies to aid flights from around the world and speed relief efforts, the Obama administration has said.
US State Department spokesman PJ Crowley said Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive signed a memorandum of understanding formally transferring operations at Toussaint L'Ouverture International Airport in Port-au-Prince.
‘Obviously we will assume this responsibility as long as it's appropriate and to the point where the Haitian government is able and ready to resume that capability,’ Mr Crowley said.
The airport became a bottleneck almost immediately after Tuesday's devastation as the world rushed help to the impoverished nation.
The UN mission responsible for security in Haiti lost at least 36 of its 9,000 members when its headquarters collapsed.
Trucks piled with corpses have been carrying bodies to excavated mass graves outside the city but thousands of bodies are still believed buried under rubble.
‘We have already collected around 50,000 dead bodies,’ Interior Minister Paul Antoine Bien-Aime said.
‘We anticipate there will be between 100,000 and 200,000 dead in total, although we will never know the exact number.’
Some 40,000 bodies had been buried in mass graves, said Secretary of State for Public Safety Aramick Louis.
If the casualty figures turn out to be accurate, the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that hit Haiti would be one of the ten deadliest ever.
Health Minister Alex Larsen said three-quarters of Port-au-Prince will have to be rebuilt.
The USS Carl Vinson, with 19 helicopters, arrived off Haiti yesterday, opening a second significant channel to deliver help.
Navy helicopters had begun taking water ashore and ferrying injured people to a field hospital near the airport.
The US military aimed to have about 1,000 troops on the ground in Haiti yesterday and thousands more in ships offshore.
The total will reach 9,000 to 10,000 troops by Monday.
Aid arriving
Waves of military and civilian planes loaded with food and water, medicine, and rescue crews arrived into the small Haitian air space but many flights circled for hours before landing or were diverted.
While a 9,000-foot runway can handle the biggest jetliners arriving ‘heavy’ with cargo and the tarmac escaped serious damage, the Port-au-Prince airport was compromised by a severely damaged control tower and limited facilities for dealing with the relief effort.
The US Air Force landed on Wednesday and immediately worked with Haitian authorities and a team from the Federal Aviation Administration to restore navigation and communications capabilities.
They also sorted planes on the ground and began to organise arrivals.
But Haitian air space remained off limits throughout yesterday to many flights approaching from overseas with little notice.
Some planes bound for Haiti were diverted to the Dominican Republic and airports in Florida, the FAA said.
Aviation authorities were concerned that long approach delays could jeopardise onboard fuel supplies.
Further complicating matters, the Port-au-Prince airport ran out of fuel, meaning any planes that landed would not be able to refuel for departure.
US President Barack Obama said the US, and countries including Brazil, Mexico, Canada, France, Colombia, Russia, Japan, and Britain managed to fly in rescue and logistics personnel and supplies.
Last night, a ban was lifted on most flights heading for saturated Haitian air space.
