February 10, 2010 1:23 PM

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300 Million dollars aid to Haiti from South American summit

A South American summit on Tuesday pledged three hundred million dollars aid for Haiti, saying the country's government should be in charge of relief efforts and other nations should keep out of Haiti's internal affairs. Haitian President Rene Preval attended the emergency meeting of the Union of South American Nations, the Unasur, in Ecuador's capital Quito and thanked its host, Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa. The 12 Unasur members also said they would also request a long-term, low-interest two hundred million dollars loan for Haiti from the InterAmerican Development Bank, that Unasur would underwrite and guarantee.<br/>Meanwhile, the government in Haiti says that the number of people killed in the earthquake could be 230,000. The Revising its latest estimate up by 18000, Communications Minister Marie-Laurence Jocelyn Lassegue said the toll was not definitive. <br/>He said about 300,000 people have been injured. The latest figure does not include bodies buried by private funeral homes in private cemeteries, or the dead buried by their own families. <br/>Analysts say there is increasing concern that with the rainy season approaching, the lack of tents and temporary shelter could lead to the outbreak of disease.<br/>

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