Meanwhile, Arab League Secretary-general Amr Moussa and African Union Commission chairperson Jean Ping called on Arab and African countries to provide humanitarian aid to victims of the Haiti quake.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) will send a plane to the Dominican Republic within days to deliver the first batch of humanitarian aid to Haiti.

A team from the UAE Red Crescent Authority (RCA) will also leave for the Dominican Republic to coordinate and oversee field relief operations.

Canada will send more than 1,000 soldiers to Haiti next week for quake relief.

To help Haitians reunite with their family members in Canada, the Canadian government plans to ease immigration rules to allow Haitian refugees to enter Canada more quickly. And those in Canada who have been required to return to Haiti will be granted an extension.

Bangladesh will send a 30-member medical team to Haiti, including 20 physicians and 10 health technicians and assistant workers.

Two Moroccan military planes carrying about 24 tons of medical supplies took off from a military base near Rabat.

The aid was part of a US$1 million emergency humanitarian aid granted by the Moroccan government.

The latest death toll given by Haitian authorities is about 50,000.

(Xinhua News Agency January 18, 2010)