19.01.10 - 11:00 -
Zapatero speaking in Bratislava on Thursday. REUTERS
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's first foreign journey since the start of Madrid's six month term in the European Union presidency began on Thursday with a focus on providing aid to earthquake-stricken Haiti.
During a joint press conference in Vienna with Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann, Zapatero urged EU citizens and governments to step up relief efforts. He said Tuesday's magnitude-7.0 temblor in Haiti brought "great consequences of devastation and death."
"The international community must respond," Zapatero said. "Europe will do so and is doing so. The Spanish (EU) presidency is mobilizing every resource and capability" to address the catastrophe in the Americas's poorest country.
The Spaniard suggested the EU might send military personnel to take part in reconstruction efforts in Haiti, noting that the Spanish army emergency-response unit based in Panama has already sent a team to the Caribbean nation to evaluate the situation.
Zapatero said a military plane left Madrid at midnight Wednesday carrying rescue personnel and equipment as well as Spain's secretary of state for Ibero-America, Juan Pablo de Laiglesia.
A Spanish Hercules transport aircraft is also en route to Haiti with medical supplies and a planeload of physicians is expected to take off from Madrid for Port-au-Prince later Thursday, the prime minister said.
He said he plans to speak with the president of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, to organize the EU's response to the disaster.
Faymann, for his part, announced that Austria also sent teams to assist efforts to rescue thousands of Haitians thought to remain trapped in collapsed buildings.
Haiti's prime minister, Jean-Max Bellerive, said the death toll from the quake could top 100,000.
Four Malaga members of the NGO Bomberos Sin Fronteras joined colleagues in Madrid on Thursdayready to set off on a rescue mission to Haiti, following the earthquake. The Spanish team, formed by eight firemen and a nurse, say they will stay for as long as they are needed.
