Everybody is calling it a miracle: an elderly woman has been pulled alive and singing from the rubble of Haiti's Roman Catholic cathedral, a week after a deadly quake demolished the building.
Rescue workers wept and hugged each other as the woman, caked in debris and dust, was placed on a makeshift stretcher, put on a drip, covered with a heat-conserving wrap and driven by truck to a hospital, witnesses said.
"It was an amazing thing to witness, no one could believe she was still alive," said Sarah Wilson, of British charity Christian Aid.
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"It seems rescuers were communicating with her and managing to get water to her through a tube. She was singing when she emerged. Everyone clapped and cheered," she added.
The woman, Anna Zizi, was rescued by Mexican firefighters about 3.30pm local time, two-hours short of a full week after a 7.0-magnitude quake devastated the Haitian capital.
Her rescue gave hope to hundreds of rescue workers still digging for survivors in the ruins of the capital, where the stench of crushed and decomposing corpses filled the air.
Aid parcels dropped by helicopters
Haitian officials have put the death toll so far at 75,000 but have warned that as many as 200,000 may have perished.
Zizi's son Maxime Janvier was interviewed by CNN in the United States shortly after they rescued his mother, whose age he said was 69 or 70.
"I never give up hope, no. We were praying a lot for this to happen," he said of the days of anguish he passed after his sister told him their mother was at the cathedral when the quake struck.
Asked what he did when he was told his mother was alive, Janvier said: "I called my dad (in Miami) to let him know, and he is very happy."
US troops led by Marines have descended from helicopters onto the ruined Haitian capital, as the US military ramps up a huge aid operation for desperate Haitians.
In a spectacular move, paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne division on Tuesday landed in at least four choppers to secure the ruined presidential palace, a once elegant white building now surrounded by a stinking, squalid refugee camp.
Humanitarian mission
From the palace, a 100-strong squad of soldiers headed on foot to the city's general hospital, which was swamped with injured after the catastrophic quake.
"We are here to provide security to the hospital. We work with the government of Haiti. We have rules of engagement, but we are on a humanitarian mission," said Sergeant Bill Smith.
US Marines also landed southwest of the capital to link up with UN peacekeepers and assess conditions for a larger flow of troops and equipment.
Colonel Greg Kane said a combat logistics team was landing in badly-damaged Leogane, southwest of the capital, and "opening up a beach access into that town to move personnel and supplies."
Some 2,200 Marines and sailors are expected to take part in the relief operation, although most will stay aboard US Navy ships off Haiti.
Eventually over 10,000 US troops are expected in or around the Caribbean island nation.
US, UN troops on the way
They were preparing to use helicopters and hovercraft to move ashore more than 100 vehicles, two water purification systems, nine water tanks, six fuel tanks, 16 generators, 20 tents and medicine, a military spokesman said.
But the arrival at the presidential palace was not welcomed by all of the homeless, destitute refugees who saw it as an affront to Haiti's sovereignty.
"It's an occupation. The palace is our power, our face, our pride," said Feodor Desanges, as some of the 50,000 living rough in the Champ de Mars square in front of the palace shouted abuse.
Amid reports of sporadic looting and growing tensions on the streets, the UN Security Council voted unanimously on Tuesday to send 3,500 extra UN troops and police to Haiti to help maintain order and protect aid convoys.
That will swell the number of UN military and civilian forces in Haiti to around 14,500.
Security forces are struggling to control looters in Haiti's capital, with gangs swarming through the ruins as Haitian police in combat uniforms fired in the air to disperse them.
Baby rescued from rubble
The international Red Cross said it hoped to resume non-food distribution in a part of the city, after tensions forced them to halt the aid on Monday.
There have been other extraordinary stories of children and adults surviving several days under collapsed buildings.
An unidentified, 18-month-old child was found alive on Monday six days after the quake.
Medics at an Israeli field hospital outside the capital also treated Jean-Louis Brahms, an eight-month-old boy trapped for five days under his family's house.
Relief efforts are focusing on the estimated quarter of a million injured and 1.5 million homeless, many of them orphans who lost their parents in the disaster.
Some 50 orphans whose paperwork had been processed prior to the quake arrived in the United States for treatment and adoption.
In a huge global effort, more than $US1.2 billion ($A1.3 billion) has been pledged in aid funding for Haiti, United Nations data showed on Tuesday.
