US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she was canceling the remainder of a trip to Asia to deal with the crisis afflicting Haiti.
"I have decided to cancel the remainder of (my trip) and return to Washington," she said.
Clinton had been scheduled to travel to Papua New Guinea, New Zealand and Australia.
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"It is biblical, the tragedy that continues to stalk Haiti and the Haitian people," a tired-looking Clinton said earlier.
Clinton, who honeymooned with former president Bill Clinton there, said a good international plan had been devised for Haiti to help rebuild the country after recent devastating hurricanes.
"We had donors lined up," she said, adding there was also investment plans as well.
"There was so much hope about Haiti's future, hope that had not been present for years, and along comes mother nature and just flattens it," she said.
She said she, the whole Obama administration and the American people were prepared to do everything necessary to help Haiti, even though there was still not enough information available yet amid the chaos to draw up a "roadmap."
"And we're going to give the people of Haiti the support they need," the chief US diplomat said. "The situation is horrific," she said.
She had been due to travel to New Zealand after visiting Papua New Guinea, before heading to Australia on Sunday.
In Canberra, Clinton and US Defense Secretary Robert Gates had been due to hold the 25th Australia-United States Ministerial Consultations with their counterparts Foreign Minister Stephen Smith and Defense Minister John Faulkner.
