Haitian Government to Relocate 400,000 Displaced by Quake

Haitian government officials say an estimated 400,000 residents displaced by last week's earthquake will be moved to new villages to be set up outside the devastated capital, Port-au-Prince.

Officials said Thursday they will provide transportation for the residents and hope to begin moving them as soon as possible. The 7.0 magnitude quake left an estimated 1.5 million people homeless, and earthquake survivors have been living outside in overcrowded camps with little or no sanitation.

Also on Thursday, U.S. military announced it had reopened the heavily damaged seaport in the Haitian capital to help improve the flow of aid to earthquake victims.

The commander of the U.S. Southern Command, General Douglas Fraser, said the port should be able to handle the movement of about 150 containers of relief daily.

The port's capacity is expected grow to at least 250 containers a day Friday, when a commercial vessel arrives.

Debris around the port, wrecked roads and congestion at the damaged main airport in the capital have made delivering relief to earthquake survivors difficult.

Fraser also said three new airports have opened in Haiti and the neighboring Dominican Republic for relief supplies.

Meanwhile, U.S. aviation authorities say they have sent a temporary control tower to Haiti to help with the flights bringing in earthquake aid from around the world. The tower will come with two diesel-powered generators and supporting fuel tanks.

Separately, aid workers on the ground in Haiti say they are making progress getting food and water to survivors, but the death toll could rise because of untreated injuries and disease. The aid group, Doctors Without Borders, says patients are dying of sepsis (an infection in the blood) from untreated wounds and that some of the group's surgical sites have 10- to 12-day backlogs of patients.

The January 12 quake killed an estimated 200,000 people and affected 3 million people -- about one-third of Haiti's population.

The U.S. Defense Department said Thursday that the number of American troops taking part in relief efforts will grow to 20,000 by Sunday, including troops on the ground and on the many ships in the area.

The U.S. Navy ship, USNS Comfort, reached Haiti Wednesday and its crew has treated more than 230 patients from 10 hospital sites.