The Brazilian government announced on Wednesday that it will send two planes with 28 tons of food and water to Haiti, which was devastated by a massive earthquake on Tuesday.

Earlier in the day, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva expressed his shock over the Haitian tragedy and announced a US$10 million aid to the country.

A group of politicians, military and religious representatives is headed to Haiti in order to assess the damage and determine whether the Brazilian government can help in any other capacity.

At least 12 Brazilian citizens died in the quake, including the founder of humanitarian group Pastoral of the Child, Zilda Arns. The Pastoral of the Child is an organization with links to the Catholic Church, whose work has managed to help reduce infant mortality in the country in the past three decades.

Arns, who was a pediatrician and a public health specialist, was nominated to a Nobel Peace Prize in 2006.

The other 11 dead were Brazilian military who participated in the United Nations peacekeeping task force (Minustah). According to the Brazilian Army, some of those military were due to return to Brazil this week. All of them were reportedly out of base at the moment of the earthquake; the Brazilian base in the island was not damaged.

The military were identified as Colonel Emilio Carlos Torres dos Santos; Lieutenant Bruno Ribeiro Mario; Warrant Officer RanielBatista de Camargos; Sergeants Davi Ramos de Lima and Leonardo de Castro Carvalho; Corporals Douglas Pedrotti Neckel, Ari Dirceu Fernandes Junior, and Washington Luis de Souza Seraphin; and Privates Antonio Jose Anacleto, Kleber da Silva Santos, and Tiago Anaya Detimermani.

The Brazilian embassy in Haiti suffered some damage with the quake, and was evacuated as a precaution. There are no reports of injured workers at the embassy. In order to help the embassy workers in Haiti, the Foreign Relations Ministry has decided to send more diplomatic personnel to the Brazilian embassy in neighboring Dominican Republic.

(Xinhua News Agency January 14, 2010)