Storm leaves 500,000 Haitians in desperate need of help

Some 250,000 people are affected in the devastated Gonaives region alone and 54,000 people are living in shelters across the country. Around half of Gonaives's houses remained flooded on Thursday, forcing families to huddle on rooftops.

Hanna swirled over Haiti for four days, dumping vast amounts of water, blowing down fruit trees and ruining food stores. It finally moved north on Thursday.

Two other storms killed 85 people in August and forecasters warn that Hurricane Ike could hit Haiti next week.

Anger and frustration is mounting at the inability or unwillingness of the government and international donors to deliver adequate help.

Dozens of people gathered around the gates of a UN base in Gonaives on Thursday and children climbed breeze-block walls topped by barbed wire to beg soldiers for food. Edgy UN peacekeepers are on a heightened state of alert and have replaced their floppy hats with helmets.

UN Development Programme associate administrator Ad Melkert, who has just returned from Haiti, admonished international donors to do more.

"The poverty in the rain and mud of Haiti that I witnessed is nothing less than a disgrace," Mr Melkert said. "Many actors or potential actors try to play their part, ranging from the national government to multilateral and bilateral donors and NGOs, but they all need to do more and better."