Haiti quake death toll reaches more than 111,000

Port-au-Prince, Haiti (CNN) -- More than 111,000 people died in last week's massive earthquake in Haiti, the government announced, as search-and-rescue teams wind down their effort to find survivors.

The government's figure, released by the United Nations late Friday, is the first precise death toll for the 7.0-magnitude quake that struck on January 12. It said 111,481 people were confirmed dead.

It is the worst death toll from an earthquake since the 2004 Asian tsunami, and the second-highest death toll from an earthquake in more than three decades, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Some 609,000 people have also been left homeless in and around the capital of Port-au-Prince, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.

Before the search-and-rescue effort ended Friday afternoon, OCHA said, rescuers had managed to pull 132 people alive from the rubble.

About 120 to 140 flights a day are now regularly arriving at the single-runway Port-au-Prince airport, compared with 25 a day just after the quake struck last week, OCHA said. To relieve congestion at the airport, humanitarian cargo is being moved to a forward dispatch area at one end of the runway.

The Las Americas airport in Santo Domingo, in the neighboring Dominican Republic, is starting to report congestion as it becomes increasingly useful as an alternative airport, OCHA said. It will now be open overnight to accommodate the extra traffic, OCHA said.

The U.S. military said Wednesday it had obtained landing rights at the Dominican Republic's air base at San Isidro, about 220 kilometers (135 miles) east of Port-au-Prince.

Port-au-Prince's main port is now working at 30 percent capacity, which should increase in the coming days, OCHA said. The port is only handling humanitarian cargo and is still closed to commercial traffic, it said.

Haiti is negotiating with the Dominican Republic to use the port at Barahona -- about midway between the two countries' capitals -- for more humanitarian deliveries, OCHA said.

Those managing the land transport of supplies will need fuel, and OCHA said there is enough in Haiti to last an additional 18 to 19 days. But it said it expects no shortage of fuel because supplies of fuel will be able to enter the port during that time.

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One concern with cross-border traffic is the unauthorized departure of Haitian children, OCHA said.

Charities and aid groups have said in recent days they are concerned about the danger of child trafficking after the earthquake. Groups including Save the Children and World Vision have called for a halt to adoptions, saying many children may appear to be orphaned but in fact have simply been separated from their families.

"If children must be evacuated from Haiti because their protection needs cannot be met in country, the evacuation must be carefully documented, the children must be registered with the proper authorities and all efforts must be made to reunify them with family before any adoption proceedings are considered," the U.S.-based Women's Refugee Commission said.

The number of unaccompanied children needing support is greater than the capacity to respond, OCHA said. Authorities are working with unaccompanied children who are being released from hospitals, it said.

There are now 47 hospitals, 11 mobile clinics, and two floating hospitals -- from the United States and Mexico -- in and around Port-au-Prince, OCHA said.

Some 50 aftershocks of magnitude 4.5 or higher have hit Haiti since last week's earthquake, according to OCHA.

The earth may not be stable, but the security situation is -- for now, OCHA said. There are now concerns that in some Port-au-Prince neighborhoods, including the slum of Cite Soleil, prisoners who escaped after the earthquake have returned and are attempting to reconstitute gangs, the U.N. said.

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