Haitian Woman, 84, Pulled Alive From Rubble 10 Days after Quake Woman was rescued from the ruins of her home Friday

Photo: AP

A man walks in rubble of the collapsed Cathedral following a magnitude-6.1 aftershock in Port-au-Prince, 20 Jan 2010

An 84-year-old Haitian woman has been pulled alive from the rubble of her Port-au-Prince home, 10 days after she was buried by the earthquake that devastated the capital and surrounding areas.

Emergency workers say the woman, identified as Marie Carida Romain, was rescued from the ruins of her home Friday.  She was being treated at a local hospital and it was not clear whether she would survive. It had been reported initially that the woman was 69 years old.

Hopes of finding survivors had faded since the last living person was found under debris Wednesday, with some international rescue teams turning their attention to expanding aid for survivors.

Meanwhile, thousands of Haitians were scrambling to get out of the capital Friday, as the government promised to move more than 400,000 people into tent cities being set up outside the city.

Free buses were being provided to take people to the temporary villages.

In addition to an estimated 200,000 people killed, the quake left about 1.5 million people homeless, and survivors have been living in overcrowded settlements with little or no water, food and sanitation.

The aid group Doctors Without Borders says many patients with untreated wounds have been dying from infections.

Aid efforts are still being hampered by damage to roads and transport links. The heavily-damaged seaport in the capital Port-au-Prince reopened only Thursday.

Debris around the seaport, wrecked roads and congestion at the damaged main airport in the capital have made delivering relief to earthquake survivors difficult. 

In a separate development, U.S. aviation authorities say they will set up a temporary control tower in Haiti to help with the flights bringing in earthquake aid from around the world.  The tower will come with two diesel-powered generators and supporting fuel tanks.

The U.S. Defense Department said Thursday that the number of American troops taking part in relief efforts will grow to 20,000 by Sunday, including troops on the ground and on the many ships in the area.

 Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.

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