Haitian nationals in the region are also mobilising help within their local communities.

A delegation from Jamaica was the first from the Caribbean Community (Caricom) to make it to Port-au-Prince.

Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding, who led the delegation, has already begun briefing other heads of government.

He met late on Thursday with members of a formal mission from the 15-nation grouping which was also on the way to Port au Prince for its own assessment.

Dominica holds the rotating Caricom presidency and the country's security minister, Charles Savarin, said the grouping wanted to look at areas where its help can be most effective.

"It is important to know that you are responding to the needs and not just responding...," Mr Savarin said.

Cash donations

The mission, led by the Prime Ministers of Dominica and Barbados, also includes technical experts from such agencies as the Caribbean Disaster Management Agency and the Regional Security System.

	A rescued little boy is comforted

The Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines, Ralph Gonsalves, has called for a special Caricom summit on Haiti, echoing a call from his Grenada counterpart.

Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana earlier offered immediate cash donations of US$1 million each while others promised to contribute cash and supplies.

Associations of Haitians in the region are also working on their own relief measures.

The president of the United Haitian Community in St Maarten, Ironce Castine, told BBC Caribbean that a delegation would be taking humanitarian aid to Haiti in the next few days.

The head of Jamaica's Haiti Society Myrtha Desulme is a member of the Caricom mission in a signal that the integration body would take into account diaspora views.

Fundraising telethons

Bank accounts are being set up in several islands, as governments and NGOs appeal for funding for earthquake survivors.

The office of the Grenada Red Cross said it had been inundated with calls from Grenadians wanting to contribute.

	Current Caricom chairman Roosevelt Skerrit was heading to Haiti

Red Cross Director Terry Charles said his office is only accepting cash donations at this time since the situation in Haiti was still being assessed.

Fundraising telethons and radiothons are also in the pipeline - Grenada and Trinidad and Tobago are among those already scheduled.

The West Indies Players Association also announced that a charity Twenty20 cricket match between Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago will be played at the Queen's Park Oval on 20 January.

Some commentators have said that aid to Haiti should include accepting refugees should there be an exodus from the French-speaking nation.

Intra-regional migration has become a sensitive issue in Caricom, particularly during the current recession.

Coastal surveillance

The Bahamas and Jamaica say they are braced for a possible influx.

The Minister of State for Immigration in the Bahamas, Branville McCartney, has said his government would do "what is right in the circumstances".

The Jamaica government said it had begun coastal surveillance for asylum seekers.

It said the look-out was being concentrated in the parishes of St Mary and Portland, which is one of Jamaica's nearest points to Haiti.

Non-Caricom Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, is discussing plans for its border.

The Dominican Republic and Bahamas have said they would halt expulsions of illegal Haitian imigrants.

The opposition leader in Guyana, often cited as a resettlement centre, has warned against rushing to prescribe longer-term solutions.

"Right now the effort should on taking relief," Robert Corbin said.