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There are reports of a substantial number of deaths in Haiti after Tuesday's devastating earthquake.

The epicentre of the magnitude 7.0 quake was near the densely populated Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince.

The first pictures to emerge after sunrise on Wednesday showed streets strewn with bodies and the rubble of destroyed buildings.

Witnesses have reported people crying out from beneath the rubble, but with no sign of any significant rescue effort so far. The Red Cross has warned that it will be extremely difficult to provide emergency aid.

The civilian head of the United Nations peacekeeping mission is missing and feared dead along with many other people at the UN headquarters.

The presidential palace was badly damaged, but the Haitian ambassador to Mexico said President Rene Preval had survived.

Dixie Bickel, who runs an orphanage about 20 kilometres outside Port au Prince gives World Today an account of what happened.

New York congressman Eliot Engel is chair of the House of Representatives subcommittee on the region.

Renzo Fricke is emergency co-ordinator for Medecins Sans Frontieres, a medical aid organisation sending additional assistance to Haiti.

Guido Cornale is a representative of UNICEF in the city of Jacmel, Haiti.

First broadcast 13 January 2010