'Haiti earthquake as bad as the Asian tsunami'

About 50,000 people are thought to have died in a devastating earthquake on January 12 in Haiti.

A baby was injured in the earthquake.Photo: Telegraph.

"The number of casualties is the highest in the past years , " US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said after announcing a delay in her trip to the Pacific to focus on the disaster.

Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive believes that the number of deaths from the 7.0 Richter earthquake will reach 100,000. Clinton did not give specific figures but compared the disaster with the tsunami in Asia five years ago, killing more than 220,000 people.

According to the BBC, the UN Ambassador in Haiti is one of the dead. 14 other UN staff also lost their lives and 56 injured. The Red Cross has identified up to 3 million people affected in this earthquake.

The presidential palace collapsed after the earthquake.Photo: AP.

In the first interview after the disaster, Haitian President Rene Preval described the scene of the capital as "unimaginable"."The National Assembly collapsed. The tax office collapsed. The schools collapsed. The hospital collapsed."

A large prison in the capital Port-au-Prince also collapsed and a UN spokesman said there were reports of prisoners escaping.

An international relief campaign has been implemented simultaneously in countries, including the United States, Britain and Venezuela. China is also ready to send an army to this poor national aid.

US President Barack Obama pledged to give Haiti the best support after the "cruel and incomprehensible" disaster. US naval vessels will also arrive in Haiti in a few days with relief supplies.