LIVE: Haiti earthquake 15 Jan

Live coverage following Tuesday's earthquake in Haiti, in which tens of thousands are feared to have been killed and some three million displaced. Hopes of finding survivors in the rubble are fading and the focus is now on getting urgent aid into and around the country.

1537 Andre Berto, a Haitian-American professional boxer who represented Haiti at the 2004 Olympic Games, tells the BBC World Service he is still waiting to hear news about some of his family. "It has been tough. Everyone's in a frenzy trying to find their family. I have a charitable foundation in Port-au-Prince and we disperse supplies and food, but the building has been crushed. I have the biggest fight of my life coming up, but Haiti is my life. We will continue trying to bring awareness to Haiti and let it be known that we are fighting to get this country where it needs to be," he says.

1534 The BBC's Imogen Foulkes in Geneva says: "Tonnes of aid may by heading towards Haiti but little seems to have reached those in need so far. Aid co-ordinators here say there are now enough large items such as field hospitals and search and rescue teams, but there remains an urgent need for food, clean water, doctors, nurses, medical supplies and body bags."

1531 Only a handful of stories have emerged so far of people being pulled alive from the rubble of buildings. Rescue workers say that the first 48 hours are crucial for such rescue efforts. The BBC has published an info-graphic showing how they go about their vital work.

How survivors are found

1528 UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown says there has been an "extraordinary" response to the disaster from the British public. "We are determined to make sure that the generosity of the British people is matched by the delivery of aid to the people of Haiti," he says.

1525 A spokeswoman for the UN World Food Programme, Emilia Casella, rejects criticism from those watching the suffering in Haiti that the aid operation is too slow. "Pictures can get out instantly, and so everybody can see and hear the pictures, and that's important because the world needs to know. But getting physically tonnes and tonnes of equipment, and food, and water is not as instant as Twitter or Skype or 24-hour television news," she says.

1521 Former Cuban president Fidel Castro says Haiti's extreme poverty is "an embarrassment for our times, in a world in which most people still are victims of exploitation and abuse", according to the AFP news agency. In an editorial published by official media, he says it is "time for real and true solutions for this brother nation".

1517 The Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm Mike Mullen, says the United States is sending extra troops and marines, a hospital ship, and more helicopters to Haiti in the coming days.

1514 BBC science and technology reporter Jason Palmer has been looking at how technology and social networking sites have helped news about the earthquake spread around the world, despite the collapse of many communication systems.

A lifeline in Haiti

1509 UN spokesman Mark Cutts tells the BBC "no-one should underestimate the difficulties of operating in a country like Haiti". "Even at the best of times, it's a difficult place to operate. It's going to be difficult, but we do have a lot of teams which have been mobilised - many of them are in the air, others are already on the ground and we are seeing this operation gear up very quickly."

Solbrook tweets: "I wish the media would stop calling it looting. It's people desperate for food and water not hifis and TVs."

1503 US Defence Secretary Robert Gates tells a news conference in Washington that the relief effort in Haiti is the "highest priority for US military assets in this hemisphere".

1500 Brazilian General Jose Elito Siqueira Carvalho, a former head of UN peacekeepers in Haiti, tells the BBC World Service that co-ordination is vital due to the country's lack of infrastructure. "If you put materials there without order, this can cause more problems. All 7,000 soldiers are working hard to support the people and it's tough work. They have to have the motivation to start again. That's the history of Haiti. And they are ready to re-start," he says.

1454 Troy Livesay has posted pictures of rubble and make-shift hospitals in Port-au-Prince today on his Flickr account.

Barbara Jones from Milton Keynes, UK emails: One of my family in the US has spoken to a member of my family in Haiti. She got through by chance on the phone, we had all been trying. My aunt and my cousins are OK - they are living in the street in Port-au-Prince so they won't get hurt by falling buildings. We still don't know about my mother.

1443 Former US president Bill Clinton, the UN Special Envoy for Haiti, urges Americans to make donations to help provide basic supplies for Haitians affected by the earthquake. "You've got unprecedented numbers of the people roaming the streets at night with no place to sleep. They haven't had any sleep in two days, they don't have water, they don't have food," he tells CNN.

1437 Lt Cmdr Ron Flanders, a spokesman for the US 4th Fleet in Florida, tells the BBC that the USS Carl Vinson has arrived off Haiti and begun ferrying emergency aid ashore. "We have sent two helicopters ashore into Port-au-Prince that were loaded with pallets of food and medical supplies. Those helicopters also contained the maritime commanders," he says.

A young French citizen evacuated from Haiti arrives at an airport in Paris

1426 US journalist Andres Oppenheimer, writing in the Miami Herald, says a monitoring commission should formed right away to prevent aid "being squandered in a country with a history of massive corruption". "In a country where the state is so weak that it can't run virtually any public services and corruption is rampant, many fear that once the story fades from the headlines, the flow of international aid will diminish, and that much of what gets to Haiti will be stolen," he writes. A report last year by FRIDE, a Spain-based think tank, stated that "foreign co-operation has contributed over $2.6bn to Haiti since 1984, with little to show for it", he adds.

1413 Raymond Joseph, Haiti's ambassador to the United States, tells the BBC World Service that he is still hearing reports about strong aftershocks in his country. "I am from the south-west peninsular, from the city of Aux Cayes. The aftershock was so strong in Aux Cayes that the only hospital in the city collapsed," he says.

Charles Gomila, London, UK emails: I can't believe the most powerful nation in the world cannot get aid to the people in Haiti quickly enough. No excuses, just do it!

1404 Jan Egeland, the former UN emergency relief co-ordinator, tells the BBC he believes that the situation will improve in the next 24 hours when the US military arrives. "The biggest logistical capacity on Earth is in the hands of the US military. The military will come, and I think today and tomorrow you will see great logistical change - chains being established by them. And what is good to hear is that the US government and its military will work very closely with the UN, which is also working very closely with the Red Cross."

On the ground in Haiti with survivors as they desperately plead for help

1400 Ansel Herz, an American journalist in Port-au-Prince, tells the BBC there are children outside the UN compound who have not eaten in "one, two or three days". "I just talked to a young boy whose parents died as their house collapsed. He's out there searching, waiting for some kind of food and if anybody could give it to him. He has no money, no resources to get any aid of any kind, and that's just the case for so many children and families that are basically stranded out in Port-au-Prince. There's not a massive visible relief effort that I can see on the streets," he says.

1352 Jimmy Felter, a film-maker based in the US and founder of the charity, Voice of Haiti, tells the BBC World Service that Haiti's already poor infrastructure will hamper the rescue effort. "Haiti was hanging on by a string before this - there was starvation before this," he says. "There is no infrastructure there, so if you start trying to have an operation where everything starts pouring in it can cause much trouble and confusion. It's been too little, for too late, for too long. But the spirit of the Haitian people cannot be underestimated. I'm not giving an optimistic outlook but I would never give up hope."

1350 The UN World Food Programme earlier said its warehouses in Port-au-Prince had been looted, but this has now been denied. "We do still have that 6,000 tonnes of food," WFP spokeswoman Caroline Hurford tells the BBC. "Apparently there were unconfirmed reports of looting taking place, but once our teams got down to the dockside they were able to see that there was some mistake."

1341 Penny Lawrence of the charity, Oxfam, tells the BBC that the breakdown in communications in Haiti is causing many problems on the ground. "All of our systems rely on mobile phones, telephones, sat-phones, email, and the internet. And we are struggling very, very much without those. We understand people are getting impatient, but I do think there are extraordinary levels of devastation," she says.

1335 The BBC's Nick Davis in Port-au-Prince says: "People are doing what they can to survive. Every morning the first jobs of the day involve getting the very basics. Loaded with old plastic bottles or anything else that can hold water, they fill up where they can. Some from broken pipes from collapsed buildings, that still have a supply."

1327 Olafor Rotsson, a spokesman for the Icelandic Volunteer rescue organisation, tells the BBC power shortages and security concerns are slowing the search down at night. "When people get tired, hungry, and thirsty - and maybe lose hope - it gets more difficult. Up to now all the locals have welcomed us and we haven't had any problems at all, but the UN says 'security stage three', which means you are not allowed to work in the night."

1325 Susan Westwood, at an orphanage in Haiti, blogs: "We need powdered formula, nappies, baby wipes, baby cereal, infant Tylenol (paracetamol suspension), infant and children's vitamins, and baby care items such as lotion, powder, baby shampoo. We also hope to be able to assist the surrounding community with clothing, medical supplies, household items, hygiene items such as soap, toothbrushes, toothpaste, blankets and towels."

1323 The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) in the UK says it has raised £2m ($3.3m) in the first 36 hours since launching its appeal for Haiti - Queen Elizabeth II is among those to have made a donation.

1313 The New York Times has compiled an informative topographic map of Haiti highlighting the areas affected by the quake.

1304 Daniel Sergile from Amsterdam e-mails: "My cousin, Joel, was at work when his building collapsed. Initially he was reported to be safe, but it now appears that he is trapped under rubble. Two other cousins have been found safe. Phone lines are still down but we are able to communicate via satellite internet."

1257 Oxfam says ensuring access to clean water for survivors is "probably the most immediate problem to resolve now".

1249 Haiti's sea, land and air entry points have all suffered damage in the quake - as well as government and aid agency buildings - which is hampering efforts to distribute aid.

Logistical nightmare

1235 Troy Livesay, a missionary working in Port-au-Prince, has taken video footage of Haitians setting up temporary camps in the city.

Singing in Haiti's temporary camps

1231 A US Catholic charity is considering organising a mass airlift of orphaned children from Haiti, the Miami Herald reports.

1227 Anne Wilkinson, in Ilkley, UK e-mails: "I worked in Haiti for five years from 2001-2006. The latest news I have is that St Joseph's in Petionville has been destroyed but all have been evacuated. Two boys are seriously injured but have not been able to get medical attention."

1224 CNN has posted a video of a woman rescued uninjured from rubble after being trapped for 50 hours.

1219 The BBC's Andy Gallagher in Port-au-Prince says the dead are being buried in mass graves. "There's no time now to identify the bodies. That's something Haitians are going to have to deal with for years and years to come."

1217 The US says it has been granted rare permission to use Cuban airspace to fly aid to Haiti - AFP report.

1215 Emerson Tan, Dominican Republic, texts: "Got turned away twice from PAP [Port-au-Prince] yesterday so we're still in Dominican Republic. Sounds really chaotic on the ground with conflicting stories about landing clearances. Hopefully third time lucky. We really need to get in there to be more effective."

1212 The BBC's George Alagiah in Port-au-Prince says: "It wouldn't be the first crisis in which people resorted to what we call looting, but they are just trying find some food and water."

1209 Troylivesay tweets: "Treating water right now then out to pick up people from the embassy and start planning a clinic in our area."

1202 The BBC's Andy Gallagher in Port-au-Prince says: "People here want to talk to us and tell the world about the situation. The security situation on the ground seems fairly good, people are in as good spirits as they possibly can be. But it is now a critical situation as the hours go by, and those voices reported from inside the rubble have fallen silent."

1201 World Food Programme spokeswoman Emilia Casella says looting is "not unusual" in disaster situations and that aid distribution takes time. "Getting physically tonnes and tonnes of equipments, of food and water is not as instant as Twitter or Skype or 24-hour satellite news," AFP quotes her as saying.

1150 Anjali Kwatra of UK-based charity Action Aid, tells the BBC World Service: "In the first 48 hours after a disaster, it isn't international aid that makes a difference - that usually comes in after two or three days. It's the local people who go in, who rescue people, who provide what food, water and shelter that they can. What we're seeing in Haiti is that there isn't the ability to do that, because so many people have been affected."

1146 A spokesman for UN peacekeepers in Haiti says people are "slowly getting more angry and impatient" with the lack of aid. "We're all aware that the situation is getting more tense as the poorest people who need so much are waiting for deliveries. I think tempers might be frayed," David Wimhurst tells the Associated Press.

1141 The UN says 36 members of its staff in Haiti are confirmed to have died, while nearly 200 are still missing.

1136 Prospery Raymond, a Christian Aid staff member in Haiti tweets: "This morning I went to a pharmacy and asked for help and they gave me all their antibiotics, which I took to the hospital."

1126 US actor George Clooney is to run a telethon on MTV to raise money for victims of the Haiti quake.

1122 France has asked members of the Paris Club to write off Haiti's international debts, French Economy Minister Christine Lagarde says.

1119 Firesideint tweets: "I am starting to run - literally, run - every time an aftershock hits. Seen far too many bodies. Don't wanna add to that number."

1114 Mark Thomas, who works at an orphanage in Jacmel about 32km (20 miles) south of Port-au-Prince, tells the BBC: "We've had thousands of people killed in the city and we've had no help, there has been absolutely no aid in the city at all. We're so happy people have come to the rescue of Port-au-Prince but we have to get the message out that there are other cities."

1111 Former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, in South Africa, says he is "ready to leave today, tomorrow, at any time, to join the people of Haiti, to share in their suffering, help rebuild the country."

1108 Singer Wyclef Jean in Haiti tweets: "Haiti needs emergency supplies right away!!! Water, Dry Goods, Blankets, and Clothing!! Pls contact state officials right now 4 drop off pts."

1104 The BBC's Mark Doyle at the airport in Port-au-Prince says: "If some planes are now arriving, it's far from clear how effective the distribution of the aid may be. There are problems of coordination with the Haitian Government, which is dysfunctional at the best of times, and some roads are reported to be blocked by buildings toppled in the quake."

1100 Steve Matthews from World Vision tells the BBC World Service: "I met a woman today clutching a picture of her husband. She was crying in the streets. There are people being carted through the streets on doors - or whatever they can use as stretchers. Everywhere you go there's something crazy that you can hardly believe you are looking at."

1054 BellaBaita tweets: "My brother pulled from rubble of Hotel Montana 55 hrs after quake - still hope for others."

Survivors' stories

1045 The BBC's Matthew Price in Port-au-Prince says temporary camps are springing up in the city and people are using tree branches to build shelters.

"No water is being handed out"

1034 American Red Cross spokeswoman Gloria Huang tells the BBC social networking sites have helped them raise $35m (£21.5m) in the US, with $5m raised through a text message campaign alone. "The immediacy is a very strong point. This mobile texting campaign is really the centrepiece of the whole thing - it's the first time we've ever done anything like this," she says.

1031 The World Food Programme (WFP) says its warehouses in Port-au-Prince have been looted - AP reports.

1016 The International Organization for Migration (IOM) tells the BBC it needs around $30m (£18.4m) for its emergency shelter and non-food distribution in Haiti. IOM's Chief of Mission in Haiti, Vincent Houver, says access to fuel and electricity are growing concerns.

1012 Dixie Bickel, who runs an orphanage in Port-au-Prince, tells the BBC World Service: "People are leaving Port-au-Prince in masses. They've picked up what they can find, they've put it on their head and out they go. We're seeing people on the road, carrying their dead with them. They're going out in the countryside to bury them."

1005 UN spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs says 10% of homes in Port-au-Prince have been destroyed, leaving some 300,000 people homeless.

0957 Building experts tell the BBC sub-standard housing and a lack of building regulations have contributed to the level of devastation in Haiti.

"Like a house of cards"

0943 Shaul Schwarz, a TIME magazine photographer working in Haiti, tells BBC Radio 4's Today programme that angry residents near Port-au-Prince have set up a roadblock made of dead bodies, in protest over the delay in aid.

"An act of anger"

0934 Emerson Tan, an aid worker in Dominican Republic, e-mails: "Unable to land at Port-au-Prince due to overcrowding. Circled for 15 minutes before fuel forced us to head back to Dominican Republic. All air ops suspended until they can turn stuff on the ground around. We're putting pressure on the US who are running stuff on the ground. Dog teams [who need to be in first] are very annoyed."

0928 Troy Livesay tweets: "I've seen the UN and many other aid orgs stuck in traffic today - fewer visible Haitian police on the streets where I've been than usual."

0924 The BBC's Richard Lister in Washington says: "The US military mobilisation is now well under way. The air force has taken over air traffic control at the airport in Port-au-Prince, operating it around the clock. The USS Carl Vinson will be the launch pad for additional aid flights with its fleet of 19 helicopters. A US hospital ship, the Comfort, will arrive next week with 250 beds and 12 operating theatres."

0917 Harry Brown in Macau e-mails: "Just getting word - via my sister in Montreal - that 11 family members in Carrefour aged between 18 months and 60 years have survived. To what extent, we don't know yet. The relief is mixed with guilt. I am relieved to have received positive news yet there are thousands upon thousands of families hit by this tragedy."

0908 International aid charities are appealing for help for the victims. Here are some of the ways you can help. The Disasters Emergency Committee is co-ordinating donations in the UK.

0907The BBC's Andy Gallagher in Port-au-Prince says: "The aid is now trickling into the airport and some search and rescue teams are on the ground, bringing much needed help and expertise. But as the hours tick by, the bodies are piling up and the stench is now filling the air across the city. Many here have shown patience so far, but now the mood is changing."