CATASTROPHE

Haitians Flee Capital

Death-toll estimate doubles to 200,000.

Despite increasingly efficient distribution of food, water and supplies in Port-au-Prince, a dramatically weakened infrastructure and some outbursts of violence have made the allocation of aid difficult in quake-torn Haiti, frustrating aid workers and Haitians alike. Some Port-au-Prince residents are electing to leave the capital instead, spending as much as three days' wages on steep bus fares to get them to relatives' houses and farms in the countryside; in the slum of Cite Soleil, escaped prisoners are reportedly taking control. Elsewhere, city dwellers banded together to protect their neighborhoods from bandits and looters, apparently encouraged by the police. "We never count on the government here," said one local. "Never." On Monday, officials doubled their estimate of the death toll to 200,000.