7:08am UK, Friday January 15, 2010

Damien Pearse, Sky News Online

Desperate earthquake victims have set up roadblocks using corpses in Haiti to protest at the delay in emergency aid.

Rescue efforts intensified today as survivors – including many children – were pulled from beneath rubble three days after the quake struck.

Makeshift hospitals were set up across the capital Port-au-Prince as children slept among the dead in the streets.

The wails of victims could be heard from the debris as US President Barack Obama promised $100m (£61.4m) for the relief effort.

The now lawless Port-au-Prince quickly fell victim to gangs of armed looters with reports of gunshots in the devastated city overnight.

Amid the suffering, extraordinary tales of survival and compassion have begun to emerge.

Babies were pulled alive from collapsed buildings while the dead were stacked up by the side of the road and placed into car boots.

Around three million people are without food and water and the Red Cross said up to 50,000 had died.

Shaul Schwarz, a photographer for Time magazine, said he saw at least two downtown roadblocks formed with bodies of victims and rocks.

“They are starting to block the roads with bodies, it’s getting ugly out there, people are fed up with getting no help,” he told Reuters.

A makeshift tent village in the flattened city of Port-au-Prince

Haitians living in the capital’s growing tent cities say they do not expect help anytime soon.

“People are waiting for someone to take care of them,” said Michel Reau, 27, who brought his wife and young child to the park after their home collapsed.

“We are out of food. We are out of water.”

The first British search and rescue workers to enter Haiti were beginning to scour the rubble for survivors today as logistical problems continued to hamper aid.

Millions have been injured, orphaned or made homeless in the stricken Caribbean country.

Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) launched television and radio appeals for donations.

Click here for more pictures of the disaster.

Supplies and aid workers – including 64 search and rescue staff from UK fire services – were held up yesterday as Port-au-Prince’s airport struggled to handle the influx of flights.

But today aid was beginning to trickle through despite a total collapse of the country’s infrastructure.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown called for the world to respond as the British Government pledged £6m aid.

Body of a quake victim is placed in a coffin

The International Monetary Fund added a further £65m.

“The last 24 hours have been truly horrific for the people of Haiti. It is a tragedy beyond imagination,” Mr Brown said.

“I do urge people to support where they can the Disasters Emergency Committee Haiti appeal.”

Louis Ballinger, of Oxfam, said a lack of communications in Haiti was making the difficulties faced by aid workers even worse.

Haiti Earthquake Aftermath: Live Tweets

He said: “The scale of the earthquake is beyond belief. And we have to respond with no telephones, very little internet and no electricity.

“This is making our jobs really difficult.”

The Queen made a private donation to the appeal and offered her “profound sympathy” to the people of Haiti.

International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander said there was “overwhelming requirement” for food, water, sanitation, shelter and medicine.

Tesco pledged £50,000 to the DEC appeal through the British Red Cross, which it has partnered for a decade.

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said 150 UN staff were still unaccounted for, including around 100 who were in the headquarters building which collapsed.

The Foreign Office said it had received no reports of British casualties.

Anyone concerned about relatives in Haiti should call 020 7008 1500.