The US, France, Canada and governments across Latin America are gearing to help Haiti, after an earthquake registering 7.0 levelled buildings and caused an unknown number of casualties.
US President Barack Obama said on Tuesday his government stood "ready to assist the people of Haiti", as the State Department, USAID and the US Southern Command mobilised, the White House said, "to co-ordinate an assessment and any such assistance".
In Paris, Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said France "expresses its complete solidarity" with Haiti, adding that his ministry's crisis centre had begun working "to mobilise and dispatch without delay urgent aid to Port-au-Prince".
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Canada, which hosts an 80,000-strong Haitian community, said it was "deeply concerned" with events unfolding in Haiti.
Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon said Canadian officials "are making contact with trusted humanitarian partners with a presence in the region to identify humanitarian needs resulting from this earthquake".
Search and rescue teams
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said he was "very concerned" with the situation, including the fate of about 1200 Brazilian members of the 7000-strong UN Stabilisation Mission in Haiti, known as MINUSTAH, which Brazil leads.
A MINUSTAH employee in Haiti told AFP the force's headquarters had been largely destroyed in the quake.
In Bogota, the president's office said Colombia was "under alert and ready to respond to the Haitian authorities' call for help". adding that the defence ministry and emergency management services were co-ordinating upcoming assistance efforts.
Venezuela said it would send a 50-member "humanitarian assistance team" to Haiti in the next few hours. Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro said the team would leave for Port-au-Prince early on Wednesday bearing food and medical supplies for stricken Haitians.
Maduro also said he has been unable to contact Venezuela's ambassador to Haiti or Haitian authorities since the earthquake struck.
In Panama, the country's Vice-President, Juan Carlos Varela, pledged that his government would provide assistance to the United Nations' Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Peru said its 205 peacekeeping troops in MINUSTAH would help in rescue efforts, adding that none of the soldiers was injured in the quake.
Sniffer dogs to help with hunt
Mexico's foreign ministry said it was keeping close watch on Haiti and had "activated a protection plan for Mexicans facing an emergency" there.
In the Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, President Leonel Fernandez called on the international community to help Haiti overcome a "real tragedy".
He said his government stood ready to send help.
A government spokesman said a Dominican Air Force plane was ready to pick up quake victims and that it was sending a team of sniffer dogs to search for victims in the rubble.
Meanwhile, in Cuba - only 80km from Haiti - people in the eastern coastal town of Baracoa were evacuated to higher ground as a precaution, after the earthquake triggered a tsunami alert, the civil defence agency said.
The alert was lifted later, but Cuba said it "remains vigilant for possible aftershocks and rising sea levels in the eastern provinces", the agency said.
The initial quake was felt in Cuba's eastern province of Santiago de Cuba.
