With the death toll in Haiti by Tropical Storm Jeanne rising to nearly 700 on Tuesday, the international community began to provide humanitarian aid for Haiti.

About 691 people were killed in Tropical Storm Jeanne with about 600 of them in Gonaives, the country's third largest city, said Dieufort Deslorges, spokesman for Haiti's civil protection agency, noting the number is expected to rise as reports from outlying regions reach later.

He also said about 250,000 people were left homeless in the country as Jeanne destroyed more than 4,000 houses.

The dead were to be buried in mass graves soon to avoid disease outbreak, said a spokesman for UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti.

Jeanne also killed at least 11 in the Dominican Republic and three in the US territory of Puerto Rico, leaving large areas of crops under water and several towns and villages cut off by mudslides that blocked roads.

GONAIVES STILL SWAMPED, HAITIAN LEADER APPEALS FOR AID

A few days after lashed by Jeanne, half of Gonaives was still swamped with waist-high water. The main road north from the city was destroyed in the storm which made it difficult for aid material's reach.

While at the opening of the annual UN General Assembly session held in New York on Tuesday, Haitian interim President Boniface Alexandre appealed to the international community for aid.

"In the face of this tragedy, which is of the magnitude of a humanitarian disaster, I appeal urgently for the solidarity of the international community so it may once again support the government in the framework of emergency assistance," he said.

Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere with a population of 8 million, suffered a three-week civil tumult in February, in which about 300 were dead and then President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was ousted.

In May, floods caused by rainstorms killed more than 3,000 people on the border shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

ALL CHINESE IN HAITI UNSCATHED

All the Chinese people in Haiti including Chinese people from Taiwan and Chinese peace-keeping policemen escaped unscathed in Jeanne, Chinese business and development office in Haiti told Xinhua on Tuesday.

The first 30 Chinese police officers arrived in Port-au-Prince, capital of Haiti, last Friday and stationed temporarily in a big storehouse on the outskirts of the city.

At the request of the United Nations, China is scheduled to send all together 125 police officers to form a contingent of riot police for a peacekeeping mission in Haiti.

It is the first time China has sent riot police abroad to participate in a UN peacekeeping mission.

INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY AIDS HAITI

The UN General Assembly, while expressing its "deepest sympathy" for recent hurricane victim countries and condolences " for the tragic loss of life and extensive material damage," urged "the international community to show its solidarity and respond promptly and generously to any request for help from those countries, said a statement read by Gabonese Foreign Minister JeanPing, who was presiding over the session.

The European Union (EU) has approved an emergency aid of 1.8 million US dollars for Haiti, said Tuesday Poul Nielson, a member of the EU Commission who is responsible for development and humanitarian aid.

The aid will be distributed to the International Red Cross and other agencies operating in Haiti, he said.

The Venezuelan government on Tuesday said it will aid Haiti with 1 million dollars, while on the same day Argentina announced it will send a plane with humanitarian aid materials on board to Haiti on Wednesday.

The United States on Monday announced it will provide an urgent relief aid of about 60,000 dollars.

Source: Xinhua