More U.S. troops arrive in wake of Haiti quake aftershock | Haiti Aftershock | Haiti Quake Aftershock | aftershock rocked Haiti

An aftershock rocked Haiti on Wednesday as rescue workers continued the search for survivors and the United States sent more troops.

PORT-AU-PRINCE -- More U.S. troops arrived in Haiti, and Canadian forces pushed to open a desperately needed runway Wednesday, as a strong aftershock and isolated looting complicated efforts to aid the devastated nation.

With the focus shifting from finding survivors to rebuilding the impoverished country, the Pentagon said it hoped to have 16,000 troops on land and offshore by week's end. Meanwhile, Canada moored two ships off the coastal towns of Jacmel and Léogne, both hard-hit by the Jan. 12 earthquake.

Canadian Defense Minister Peter Mackay said troops would have the Jacmel airfield ``fully functional'' by Thursday. The new runway is crucial to getting aid into Haiti, which has seen its main airport in Port-au-Prince choked with round-the-clock aid deliveries.

The ramped-up efforts came as a powerful aftershock rocked the country Wednesday morning, sending weary survivors back onto the streets eight days after much of Port-au-Prince and the surrounding area were leveled by a 7.0-magnitude earthquake.

The U.S. Geological Survey said Wednesday's tremor -- the largest aftershock so far -- registered 5.9 and was centered about 35 miles west of the capital, near Petit-Goave.

A United Nations disaster team dispatched to Petit-Goave said there appeared to be little new damage. Last week's quake had already destroyed about 30 percent of the city's buildings.

With more than 200,000 feared dead and 1.5 million left homeless, the government is still trying to assess the full extent of the crisis.

On Wednesday, Marie Laurence Lassegue, Haiti's minister of communications and culture, said officials had been dispatched to outlying provinces to help local leaders prioritize their needs.

While the nation is desperate for more tents and heavy machinery, it also needs to put Haitians back to work, Lassegue said.

The industrial park near the capital's airport, which once employed about 20,000 people, mostly garment workers, remains damaged and idle.

``The government needs the [industrial park] to resume its activity,'' Lassegue said.

Even so, there were signs that the economy was coming back to life.

The U.N. Development Program said it has employed almost 400 Haitians to help deliver humanitarian supplies, and plans to hire 700 more to remove rubble and repair streets.

Street vendors were hawking food and water.

Banks are scheduled to reopen Saturday, helping to restore the flow of money from Haitians abroad, who send home $1.9 billion a year.

While the world has rushed to Haiti's aid with about $1 billion in assistance, the International Monetary Fund said a comprehensive effort, akin to the Marshall Plan that helped rebuild Europe after World War II, is needed.

Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive said the international community must be prepared for a long-term rebuilding effort: ``It's not something we're going to resolve in weeks or months. It will take years.''

The U.S. government has committed $171 million to the effort thus far, and mobilized a fleet of ships. By Wednesday there were 20 Navy and Coast Guard vessels deployed off Haiti's coast, including the medical ship USNS Comfort, which has 1,000 beds.

While the U.S. aid has come at Haiti's request, those efforts are being viewed with suspicion by some.

On Wednesday, Bolivian President Evo Morales said he would seek U.N condemnation of what he called the U.S. military occupation of Haiti, the Associated Press reported.

In an interview with ABC News on Wednesday night, President Barack Obama said the United States' only intention is to help Haiti.

At a wharf near Port-au-Prince's devastated seaport, hundreds of families were camped amid muddy suitcases and boxes.

While Wednesday's aftershock sent six rusting ferry boats packed with refugees swaying, no one left.

``We have nowhere else to go,'' said Richard Louis, 24.

As thousands continued fleeing the ruined capital by bus and on foot, teams of rescue workers defied the odds by finding more people buried in the rubble.

As of Wednesday, 43 international teams had pulled 122 people from the ruins, the White House press office said.

Material from The Associated Press

Posted in: Haiti Quake News,World News