As South Florida hospitals continue to express concerns about costs, the first flight of Haitian earthquake victims into the United States since last Wednesday is expected to land Monday night with about 20 patients at the Palm Beach International airport, the U.S. government reported.

From there, the patients are likely to be dispersed, depending on their injuries. Jaime Caldwell of the South Florida Hospital and Healthcare Association said 20 patients are likely to stay in South Florida, with two being flown on to Walter Reed, the military hospital in the Washington area.

``The decision about which hospitals has to wait until the final manifest is produced and then, based on the severity of the injuries, the decisions will be made as to which hospitals will receive the patients,'' Caldwell said in an e-mail to The Miami Herald.

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In international news, A moderate earthquake jolted southwestern China on Sunday, killing one person, injuring 11 others and damaging over 100 homes.The US Geological Survey says the quake registered at a magnitude of 5 point 2.The Sichuan provincial seismological bureau said all of the casualties occurred in the town of Moxi, near the epicenter, with a population of about 30 thousand people.The area is still rebuilding from a magnitude 7 point 9 quake that struck in May 2008, leaving almost 90 thousand people dead or missing.

Contrary to appearances, most residential brick facades are non-structural, providing little lateral stability, and they are likely to crack and fall apart during an earthquake. A seismic event will shake and deform a home's wood skeleton, but collapse is avoided because wood framing and carpentry connections can flex without coming apart. Look at aging country barns.

The technique of isolating a building from ground movement is effective but costly. Keeping a building motionless while the ground shifts requires a foundation surrounded by specially engineered isolation pads and shock absorbers that separate the building from the earth. When the ground shakes, the isolators enable the building to stay put because of its inertia. Increasingly, this technique is used in active seismic zones, such as the West Coast, both for new buildings and to retrofit older ones.

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Canada is home to one of the largest Haitian communities outside of Haiti, with more than 100,000 Canadians of Haitian descent living mostly in Montreal, Quebec. Canada also has a strong humanitarian presence in Haiti, and ties between the two countries are very strong, which is why reuniting affected Haitians with family members in Canada has been a priority for the Canadian government.

“Canada has welcomed a large community of Haitians to this country and is working to reunite families affected by this disaster as quickly as possible. Haitian nationals who are currently in Canada will also benefit from special measures,” said Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Canada Minister Jason Kenney.

A catastrophic earth quake of the magnitude of  eight degrees in the Richter scale hit  Haiti’s capital  Port au Prince  on Tuesday  January 12 at a depth of  13 km  or 8.1 miles The earthquake  left in its wake great calamity and destruction  that the whole world witnessed  firsthand in a world that has shrunk to a village thanks  to information technology and  satellite TV.

Eight days  later as relief efforts were being marshaled and  organized to ensure that they get  to  the needy and injured before it is too late another earth quake of the  magnitude of  6.1 on the Richter  scale struck  the nation again on Wednesday January 20 to cause further havoc and  calamity amongst  Haitians.

So far the death  toll has been put at  over 200,000 people whilst  Haiti’s prime minister  Jean-Max  Bellerive   announced on 18 January that  over 70000 bodies had been buried  in mass graves. About 1.5 million Haitians are now homeless.

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The death toll in the devastating earthquake in Haiti has crossed 150,000, according to the government sources. Haiti's Communications minister Marie-Laurence Jocelyn Lassegue confirmed that the body count.

According to reports, many dead bodies are still lying under the rubble in and around Port-au-Prince and the death toll may exceed 180,000 - 200,000. The search for the survivors has already ended.

Some miraculous survival were reported from Haiti. In a latest development, a 24-year-old man, Wismond Exantus was pulled alive from the remains of a hotel in the capital on Saturday after 11 days under the rubble, reported BBC.

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The earthquake in Haiti has put tremendous strain on the United Nations. It is helping to coordinate the mammoth relief effort after suffering a major blow to its own mission.  The UN peacekeeping mission was deployed to Haiti in 2004 and helped rebuild the country after a period of political turmoil. Barbara Plett reports on how the role of the UN has changed.

The U.S. Geological Survey says the new quake, which shook Haiti just after sunrise Wednesday, was centered about 35 miles northwest of the capital Port au Prince.

It was the largest of more than 40 significant aftershocks following the January 12th quake. There have been no reports of injuries from the new quake.

Meantime, relief efforts continue in the aftermath of last week's earthquake, which killed an estimated 200,000 people. VOA's Laurel Bowman has this report.

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To find out how governments and aid agencies have been getting relief supplies to earthquake victims, click on the pictures on the map below.

US troops are being used to protect aid handouts in earthquake-devastated Haiti but there is still little sign of meaningful relief from the misery in the capital Port-au-Prince, where tens of thousands of earthquake survivors are waiting desperately for promised food and medical care.

The UN is planning to send an extra 3,500 troops and police to Haiti and the head of the US military taskforce, Lieutenant General Ken Keen, says security there is not as bad as has been reported.

"The level of violence that we see right now is below the pre-earthquake levels," he said. UN spokesman John Holmes says the security situation in general is calm.  "It's very easy to convey the impression by focusing on a particular incident that there's a major security law and order problem arising in our view, [but] it is not the case," he said.

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