Nearly half a million have fled Haitian capital: UN

Updated at: 1606 PST, Tuesday, February 02, 2010
GENEVA: Nearly half a million people have fled Port-au-Prince for the Haitian countryside following the devastating earthquake that destroyed the capital, the United Nations said on Tuesday. The UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said 90 percent of the people leaving the capital for rural areas were staying with relatives, and supporting these host families was now a priority. Prices of basic commodities such as rice and sugar are rising as a result of the influx of people, the UN said, and medical centres are short of stock and equipment for emergency care. "The government has revised the number of people leaving Port-au-Prince for outlying departments to 482,349 people, as of 31 January," the UN body said.