Travel Agent

According to Haiti Leading Sen. Youri Latortue, the death toll could be around 500,000 although no one really knows.

The sun sets behind the crumpled National Palace Port-au-Prince, Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2010. The powerful earthquake that hit Haiti on Tuesday flattened the president’s palace, the cathedral, hospitals, schools, the main prison and whole neighborhoods. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

“PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – Dazed survivors wandered past dead bodies in rubble-strewn streets Wednesday, crying for loved ones, and rescuers searched collapsed buildings as officials feared the death toll from Haiti’s devastating earthquake could reach into the tens of thousands.

“The first cargo planes with food, water, medical supplies, shelter and sniffer dogs headed to the Western Hemisphere’s poorest nation a day after the magnitude-7 quake flattened much of the capital of 2 million people.

“Tuesday’s earthquake brought down buildings great and small — from shacks in shantytowns to President Rene Preval’s gleaming white National Palace, where a dome tilted ominously above the manicured grounds.

“Hospitals, schools and the main prison collapsed. The capital’s Roman Catholic archbishop was killed when his office and the main cathedral fell. The head of the U.N. peacekeeping mission was missing in the ruins of the organization’s multistory headquarters.”