"Search For Survivors Ongoing In Haiti"

MELISSA BLOCK, host:

From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Melissa Block.

ROBERT SIEGEL, host:

And I'm Robert Siegel.

Our top story today: The search for survivors in earthquake-ravaged Haiti. Port-au-Prince, the capital, was devastated yesterday by a 7.0 earthquake. It's the worst quake to hit the area in 200 years. Haiti's president and prime minister have both put the death toll in the tens of thousands, but it's far too early for any hard numbers.

In an interview with CNN, President Rene Preval tried to describe the scene.

President RENE PREVAL (Haiti): It's incredible. You have to see it to believe it. A lot of houses destroyed, hospital, schools...

BLOCK: While rescuers pulled bodies from collapsed buildings and stacked them along the rubble-strewn streets of Port-au-Prince, aid from around the world began trickling in.

Felix Augustin, the Haitian consul general, pleaded for help.

Mr. FELIX AUGUSTIN (Consul General, Haiti): We need medical supplies. We need heavy equipment to help the people in Haiti. We need doctors, people in the medical field to go down to Haiti as soon as they can.

SIEGEL: The international aid effort that was in place before the quake suffered its own losses. The U.N. headquarters collapsed, and President Preval says the head of the U.N. mission, Hedi Annabi was killed, though the U.N. has not confirmed his death.