County man flies out to join quake team

About 50,000 people are feared dead after Tuesday's earthquake, with millions more injured, orphaned or homeless in the stricken Caribbean country.

Among the rescue workers is Peter Old, of Bayston Hill, near Shrewsbury, who has flown to the Dominican Republic.

He was today waiting for a flight into Haiti.

Mr Old is working in a team of nine from Rapid UK, a disaster response charity.

The 49-year-old, the team's medic, is volunteering with the charity for which he has also worked in disaster zones in Pakistan, Iran and Turkey.

In his day job the qualified paramedic is the emergency planning manager for Telford & Wrekin and Shropshire PCT.

Speaking from Santo Domingo Airport Mr Old said today: "We're just waiting for final details of our flight into Haiti.

"We've got most of the team here and we're waiting for the final bits of equipment to come over in the next few hours. We hope to fly out with the Mexican Army.

"The country is quite desperate for humanitarian aid but the main problem is there are people still stuck in buildings.

"Our job will be to get people out of the rubble."

He added it was difficult to know what was going on in the country because the only means of communication was by satellite phone.

Rapid UK chief executive Clive Hodges said all its relief workers were volunteers and encouraged people to make a donation through www.rapiduk.org.uk

The Disasters Emergency Committee is also calling on people to make donations and has launched television and radio appeals.

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.

The British Government has pledged £6 million in aid, the USA has promised 100 million dollars (£61.4 million) and the IMF a further 100 million dollars.

By Emma Kasprzak