Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper told an international donor conference in Montreal that "at least 10 years of hard work awaits the world in Haiti." The Haitian capital Port-au-Prince was devastated by a major earthquake on 12 January. Latest estimates put the number of dead at between 150,000 and 200,000. Thousands are still missing.

The meeting in Canada of foreign donors focused on how to move from immediate humanitarian relief to long-term reconstruction of the country - already the poorest country in the western hemisphere before the earthquake.

Experts say Haiti needs at least 500 million US dollars to meet its immediate humanitarian needs. So far, about half that amount has been promised. Representatives from 15 nations, including Haiti itself, attended the Montreal conference. Various NGOs also attended the meeting.

Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive told the meeting that his country would need the world's assistance for at least five to 10 years. 
 

One of the items on the agenda was the question of whether to rebuild Port-au-Prince at its present location on an active fault line or move it to a more geologically safe location. There have been moderate to severe aftershocks every day since the initial devastating tremor.
 

Before the earthquake hit, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and other lending nations had cancelled a great deal of Haiti's foreign debt, but charity Oxfam today called for complete cancellation of the country's 900 million US dollar foreign debt. 
 

In Haiti itself, the search for survivors amid the rubble has stopped as the focus shifts to caring for the thousands of people living on the streets. The United Nations says people are leaving Port-au-Prince in huge numbers, and aid agencies are planning to set up ten tent villages capable of housing 10,000 people in safer areas. 

A larger international donor conference is scheduled for March.

Photograph: haiti quake damage; IRIN/Flickr