Australia doubles Haiti aid | World News | Breaking World News

Haitian earthquake victims lineup to get food donations at a refugee camp in Port-au-Prince on January 18, 2010 after the country was rocked by a massive 7.0-magnitude quake on January 12, 2010.

Photos

Earthquake in Haiti, January 2010

View Photo Gallery »

Related

Son fears for Haitian mum

Stench of death hangs over Haiti

Wyclef Jean pulls bodies from rubble

George Clooney, MTV eye Haiti telethon

Massive 7.0 earthquake devastates Haiti

Over 100,000 feared dead in Haiti

Aussie mum tells of quake survival

Celebrities help quake-hit Haiti

Clinton cancels trip after Haiti quake

Photos of the destruction

Twitter messages from Haiti

EARTHQUAKE HAITI Facebook page

Support Wyclef Jean's Yele Haiti fund

Donate to the UNICEF appeal

AUSTRALIA will double to $10 million its emergency assistance to earthquake-stricken Haiti, the federal government has announced.

Another $5 million in long-term aid was committed last week.

But the government will not commit military or peace-keeping personnel to relief operations, Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said.

"The key priority now, other than search and rescue, is the life-saving materials - water, food, shelter - so we've doubled our contribution today," he said.

Mr Smith was confident the supplies will be delivered where they are needed, despite concerns the flood of aid, from various countries and aid agencies, is creating traffic bottlenecks.

Co-ordination was always a problem in the initial phases, but reports overnight from the United Nations and the Haiti government indicated "much more substantial" progress was being made.

"We're confident that our contribution will be delivered on the ground and are things that are needed at this stage," Mr Smith said.

Australia will not contribute to any peace-keeping efforts, Mr Smith said, noting the UN already had a significant 9000-strong military contingent in the country.

But Australia may send technical experts to Haiti.

The government was in discussions with the UN about whether logistics, communications or engineering experts were required, Mr Smith said.