Haiti: This are the NUMBERS

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The number of refugees fleeing the Haitian capital surged Monday, as thousands fought to get on buses leaving for the countryside. Prices for tickets doubled as the buses jostled in long lines at gas stations. The city's gas stations have fuel, but station owners refused to open because there was no security. At the United Nations compound by the airport, hundreds of trucks and soldiers from the international peacekeeping force sat idle. Rumors circulated that the Haitian government was providing free transportation to anyone who wanted to leave Port-au-Prince and go to the provinces, but reporters driving around the city could find no free rides. Instead, a trip to Les Cayes that would have cost $5 now costs $10, and many families were stranded with luggage beside the buses, without the money to pay for the journey of more than 100 miles. "The numbers are growing every day for people who want to leave," said Michel Pierre Andre, a bus driver who makes the run to Jeremie, about 140 miles away. His bus was crammed to the roof with passengers but the driver had no gas. Drivers and passengers were screaming at the gas station manager to start pumping some fuel, but he refused. "I go to Jeremie with a full load but I come back empty. Nobody wants to come to Port-au-Prince. There is nothing here. No food to buy. No work. No nothing," Pierre Andre said. In the capital center, at the sprawling tent cities by the destroyed National Palace, residents said they have not seen a single international aid group distribute food in five days. "I have been here every day. I heard they gave away some food but there was a riot. If you tell me they have been giving out food I will believe you, but we have been on this spot since the day of the earthquake and we have not seen anyone give away anything but water," said Jean Marie Magarette, who was camping with her mother, sister and four children. Desperate Haitians continue to struggle to find food and water while guarding their meager possessions against the advance of looters as the United States and other nations struggled to jump-start a sluggish relief effort. Even as Navy and Coast Guard ships arrived offshore, a round-the-clock airlift intensified and additional dignitaries appeared, the frantic victims of Tuesday's 7.0-magnitude earthquake were growing more fearful as they pleaded for help and security in a lawless city. With massive amounts of aid promised but not yet delivered because of the difficulty of operating in the crippled country, amid what U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called "one of the most serious crises in decades," the living banded together outdoors without shelter, sustenance or protection. There was widespread apprehension that, unless the pace of aid distribution quickens, there could be mass violence as hundreds of thousands of people suddenly lacking food, water and electricity begin to compete for scarce resources. "We worry," said Laurence Acluche, a Haitian National Police officer. "We are all concerned about food."