ALL GOVERNMENTS of the Caribbean Community were last night desperately seeking ways to rush emergency aid to earthquake-devastated Haiti.

With vital lines of communication virtually non-existent in the wake of the nightmare of death and destruction, the Community Secretariat was collaborating with key agencies to dispatch an “assessment team” today (Thursday) to help determine the extent and kind of emergency assistance to be provided.

The assessment team, which includes representatives of the Caribbean Disaster Management Agency, the Regional Security System (RSS) and the CARICOM Secretariat, is expected to be flown into battered Haiti by helicopter since the international airport remained closed.

While Secretary-General Edwin Carrington was addressing a news conference at United Nations headquarters yesterday afternoon on this worst natural disaster in Haiti’s 206-year history as an independent nation, the Caribbean Development Bank was announcing an initial aid package of some US$750,000 for the Haitian people.

The aid includes US$200,000 for immediate disaster relief for potable water, food, medicines and temporary shelter; and US$500,000 for restoration of “critical facilities and services”

Guyana’s President Bharrat Jagdeo pledged an “immediate relief aid of US$1 million to ease the pain and suffering of Haitian survivors of the earthquake.

According to some estimates well over 100,000 may have perished, and the International Red Cross was presenting an even more grim picture that pointed to about three million being affected–by death, injuries and complete destruction of their homes and livelihood, primarily in the wrecked capital, Port-au-Prince..

CARICOM is also involved in initial contacts with the governments of the USA, United Kingdom and Canada on the range of “practical responses” to the Haitian nightmare. These would include facilitating air transportation for emergency humanitarian aid as well as coordinating security arrangements.