Haiti quake death toll could hit '500,000'

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REUTERS,EPA,AP
GRIM RUINS: Would-be rescuers use their gloved hands yesterday to poke through the rubble of a large building that pancaked amid the Port-au-Prince earthquake.
Photos: 7.0 Earthquake Rocks Haiti

Up to half a million people are feared dead in the devastating earthquake that shattered Haiti's capital, and thousands more were left injured, homeless and reeling from the nightmare.

Global relief agencies raced to beleaguered Port-au-Prince yesterday to help the nation deal with the unimaginable destruction.

"Parliament has collapsed. The tax office has collapsed. Schools have collapsed. Hospitals have collapsed," President Rene Preval said. "There are lots of schools that have a lot of dead people in them."

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