At UN World headquarters in New York, the secretary-general welcomed the UN Security Council lifting the ceiling on the number of troops and police that may be assigned to Minustah. That would be in addition to the Canadian and US forces there on a bilateral agreement with the Haiti government.

"By approving my proposal, yesterday, to send an additional 2, 000 soldiers and 1,500 police officers to Haiti, the Council sends a clear signal: The world is with Haiti," Ban told reporters at the UN Headquarters in New York after the 15-member panel unanimously voted its approval Tuesday.

"I am sure member states will respond quickly as well," he added. "We must do all we can to get these extra forces on the ground as soon as possible so that they can help maintain order and deliver humanitarian assistance."

The UN chief also said 90 people had been saved by 43 international teams made up of 1,700 people.

"Our relief operations are gearing up quickly," Ban said. "For those who have lost everything, of course, help cannot come soon enough. The good news is that we are making rapid progress, despite the extremely difficult logistical challenges."

Water supplies were increasing; tents and temporary shelters were arriving in growing numbers; badly damaged hospitals were beginning to function again, aided by international medical teams, he said.

"We distributed daily food rations yesterday for nearly 200,000 people," Ban said. "We expect to be reaching approximately 1 million people within a week. Our chief priority right now is to get the relief distribution system in Port-au-Prince fully operational so that we may more efficiently distribute supplies -- food, water, medicine, tents and other essential items."

"We are concerned, however, that numbers of unsolicited and uncoordinated supplies and personnel entering the country will stretch limited logistical resources and interfere with the delivery of vital aid," he said. "I appeal to all international Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and aid groups to work closely with the United Nations to make sure that our joint efforts complement one another, and not duplicate them."

Capacity at the airport was improving, said Mullet, adding that a land link was established with Haiti's neighbor on the Caribbean isle of Hispaniola, the Dominican Republic. Work was also afoot to reopen the destroyed facilities in the port of Port- au-Prince to further increase the flow of aid.

(Xinhua News Agency January 20, 2010)