Md. relief agencies sending aid to Haiti

Some estimates put death toll at 'well over 100,000'

Rescue workers searched frantically Wednesday for survivors of the worst earthquake to strike Haiti in more than two centuries, while officials warned that the death toll could reach well over 100,000.

Haitians piled bodies in the streets of Port-au-Prince as they dug through the rubble for neighbors, friends or loved ones missing since Tuesday afternoon, when the 7.0-magnitude quake struck near the capital of the Caribbean nation of 9 million.

As the United States prepared to send ships, helicopters, transport planes and a 2,000-member Marine unit, and governments and aid groups sent water, biscuits and tons of emergency medical supplies, Baltimore's relief community joined in the huge international relief effort.

Catholic Relief Services, Lutheran World Relief and World Relief were dispatching emergency assessment teams to join staff members stationed in the Western Hemisphere's poorest nation. Meanwhile, the hospital ship USNS Comfort, docked in Baltimore, stood ready for deployment.

"A lot of houses destroyed, hospitals, schools. A lot of people in the street dead," Haiti's president, René Préval, told CNN. "I'm still looking to understand the magnitude of the event and how to manage."

In a message to Catholic Relief Services' headquarters in Baltimore, country director Karel Zelenka called the destruction "incredible." He wrote, "People have been screaming and praying all over the place throughout the night. It is a disaster of the century, we should be prepared for thousands and thousands of dead and injured."

The quake badly damaged the National Palace and the Catholic cathedral in Port-au-Prince, and flattened hospitals, schools and the main prison. The archbishop of Port-au-Prince was reportedly found dead in his home.

Estimates of the death toll varied wildly, with some estimates putting the number at well over 100,000. Attempts at estimating the scope of the disaster were hampered by widespread communications outages and impassable roads. Relief agencies, many of which have large operations stationed permanently in Haiti, were still trying to account for their own workers even as they prepared responses to the disaster.