Tens of thousands feared dead in Haiti quake

By Joseph Guyler Delva and Tom Brown

PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of people were feared dead on Wednesday in Haiti's catastrophic earthquake, buried beneath demolished schools, hospitals and homes, and traumatized citizens milled in streets strewn with rubble and scattered bodies.

As aftershocks continued to shake the devastated capital Port-au-Prince, residents tried to rescue people trapped under rubble, clawing at chunks of concrete with bare hands.

Tens of thousands wandered dazed and sobbing in the chaotic, broken streets, hoping desperately for assistance.

One young man yelled at reporters in English: "Too many people are dying. We need international help ... no emergency, no food, no phone, no water, no nothing."

Bodies were visible all around the hilly city: under rubble, lying beside roads, being loaded into trucks.

Asked by a CNN reporter how many people had died, President Rene Preval replied "I don't know," adding "up to now, I heard 50,000 ... 30,000."

But Preval did not say where the estimates came from.

The local Red Cross -- used to dealing with disaster in a country long dogged by poverty, catastrophic natural disasters and political instability -- said it was overwhelmed.