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Another aftershock hit the late Thursday night in the Haitian capital, sending some earthquake survivors into the streets in the middle of the night.

People in Port-au-Prince said the brief trembler was not as strong as several others since the magnitude-7.0 earthquake that devastated the city Jan. 12. Ensuing aftershocks have reached as high as magnitude-5.9.

The U.S. Geological Survey did not immediately have a measurement of the aftershock. Geophysicist Susan Potter said people can feel aftershocks that register as small as magnitude-2.0, but the service has yet to detect anything weaker than a magnitude-4.5 trembler in Haiti, where detection equipment is not densely concentrated.

Earlier Thursday, the United Nations said it will establish a “cash for work” program in Haiti to help the country recover from quake and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called on the international community for its support.

“We now have to go from the emergency response to face ongoing relief and eventually construction of the Haitian economy,” Ban said at a news conference in New York with Bill Clinton, the UN special envoy and former U.S. president.

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, right, and former U.S. president Bill Clinton speak to reporters at the United Nations in New York on Thursday. (Mary Altaffer/Associated Press)

“During my recent visit to Haiti I have met many people,” said Ban, referring to a one-day visit on Jan. 17. “What they question us is that they need the water, food, the shelter and all these basic needs.

“They need a better future and permanent jobs, to work with dignity.”

The proposed cash-for-work program would use young Haitian men and women to help with clearing streets of debris and the demolition of crumbled buildings.

Clinton will lead the program, for which the United Nations Development Program has already requested $41 million US from the world community.

“It is really vital to give the young people something positive to do and a lot of people there want to rebuild the country,” Clinton said.

He listed new airports, new ports and the rebuilding of Port-au-Prince as key projects, ones that could be included in Haiti’s pre-existing development strategy.

Humanitarian aid remains top priority

But the work program is the last of three priorities set out by Ban on Thursday.

Providing humanitarian help continues to be the top priority, followed by providing security and stability to the Haitian people.

At least two million people are homeless in Haiti — 500,000 more than originally estimated — and officials dread an outbreak of disease among earthquake survivors living in makeshift camps.

“The next health risk could include outbreaks of diarrhea, respiratory tract infections and other diseases among hundreds of thousands of Haitians living in overcrowded camps with poor or non-existent sanitation,” Dr. Greg Elder, deputy operations manager for Doctors Without Borders in Haiti, told The Associated Press.

Fritz Longchamp, the chief of staff to President Réne Préval, told The Associated Press that the government will resettle 400,000 survivors from the stricken capital in temporary camps outside town. Buses will start moving people from the capital in a week to 10 days, Longchamp said.

Medical clinics have 12-day patient backlogs, which means untreated injuries are festering.

Medical workers struggled to care for the victims even as a pair of aftershocks rattled the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, on Thursday. The U.S. Geological Survey said one tremor at 11:45 a.m. ET had a preliminary magnitude of 4.9.

Port ruined

One of the main obstacles to the delivery of much-needed aid is the condition of Haiti’s main port. Experts said the earthquake-inflicted hurt may take years to repair. The pavement where containers are transferred from ships was torn to pieces.

The cranes used to unload ships are now hurt, some were tossed into the water by the force of the quake.

The U.S. marines have been called in to help unload humanitarian aid on the last standing jetty. Normally the port would be humming with the sound of loaders and cranes but Thursday just before noon the first shipping container since the quake filled with vegetable oil and wheat was placed on a truck.

Reginald Villard is a shipping agent overseeing the loading. He admits things are working slowly.

“Right behind me you can see the first humanitarian aid that arrived last Sunday, he said. “That means food and other supplies has been sitting in the containers on the pavement baking in the sun for four days.”

Medical attention is desperately needed in Port-au-Prince, where patients must wait for days for help, and doctors often operate without anaesthetics. (Reuters)

The aftershocks sent rescue crews scrambling from the ruins of buildings where they were searching for survivors. They also sent residents out into the streets again. Since the Jan. 12 quake that ruined much of Port-au-Prince, about 50 aftershocks of magnitude 4.5 or higher have hit the area.

Airports remain backed up

Adding to the problems of finding shelter for survivors is the backlog at Toussaint L’Ouverture International Airport in Port-au-Prince. U.S. Gen. Douglas Fraser, who is head of the U.S. Southern Command that is running Haiti’s airports, said there is a waiting list of 1,400 flights to get in, but the airport can only handle 120 to 140 flights per day.

Fraser said additional landing zones in Dominican Republic and in Jacmel, in southern Haiti, have been opened up to take some of the load.

Speaking to reporters at the Canadian Embassy, Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive said the relief effort has struggled with issues of logistics, a lack of places to store relief supplies and a shortage of gasoline. Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive tells reporters at the Canadian Embassy on Thursday that the relief effort has struggled with logistical problems, inadequate storage for supplies and a lack of fuel. (CBC)

He also said displaced people have set up about 229 spontaneous camps in the area.

“So the distribution [of aid] is very hard,” Bellerive said.

Building collapses feared

According to the European Commission, many of the two million homeless are worried to stay in their homes, fearing the buildings will topple in aftershocks.

The commission also believes that 250,000 are in need of urgent aid. While the death toll is estimated at 200,000, some say an exact tally will never be known.

“I don’t reckon we will ever know what the death toll is from this earthquake,” Edmond Mulet, the newly appointed head of United Nations operations in Haiti, told the New York Times.

He said people are burying bodies by themselves, many have been thrown into dumps outside the city and an untold number still lie under the rubble.

About 80,000 are believed to have been buried in mass graves. Workers have been using earth-movers to carve out mass graves in Titanyen, north of Port-au-Prince, to bury 10,000 victims in a single day.

About 100 surgeons, nurses and medics with the 1st Canadian Field Hospital will deploy to Haiti beginning this weekend, CBC News has confirmed.

The mission will be based in Jacmel, a city of 80,000 near the capital, which has an airstrip already in use by the Canadian military. The unit will set up a hospital with an intensive-care unit and up to 50 beds.

Two surgical teams, including a general surgeon and an orthopedic surgeon, will be in charge.

With files from The Associated Press

The 2010 NFL playoffs have been largely devoid of drama — six of the eight games so far were blowouts — but the conference championship matchups could hardly be more intriguing.

The NFC’s top two seeds go head to head while, over in the AFC, the team with the league’s best record faces a red-hot upstart that boasts the best defence in pro football.

The Saints, Vikings, Colts and Jets would all be worthy combatants in Super Bowl XLIV. But who will make it to South Florida?

Here’s a breakdown of Sunday’s conference title games:

Reggie Wayne (87) and the Colts were out in front of Darrelle Revis and the Jets in Week 16 before Indy pulled its starters and New York took over the game. (Joe Robbins/Getty Images)

AFC: New York Jets at Indianapolis (3 p.m. ET)

The line: Opened at Colts minus-7.5 and held steady at most books.

The setup:

Indianapolis head coach Jim Caldwell silenced a few critics last Saturday night when the Colts emerged from their first-round bye with a convincing 20-3 home win over a tough Baltimore team. The rookie boss needed the victory terribly after putting all his chips on the playoffs back in Week 16, electing to yank his starters while leading by five in the third quarter against the Jets. New York cruised to a 29-15 win over Indy’s backups, ending the Colts’ shot at a perfect season and halting their record 23-game regular-season winning streak. Caldwell said he wanted his stars — particularly quarterback Peyton Manning, receiver Reggie Wayne and pass rusher Dwight Freeney — healthy and rested for the post-season. Seems like it worked, but take a closer look at that playoff win over Baltimore and you’ll see a few reasons for concern. The Colts, who went an NFL-best 14-2 in the regular season, only outgained Baltimore by five yards, but the Ravens doomed themselves with four turnovers to Indy’s one. Relying on takeaways is risky business, especially against a conservative Jets offence that has coughed up the ball just once in two playoff games.

New York pulled off the largest upset of the playoffs last Sunday, shocking the Chargers 17-14 in San Diego. The wild-card Jets also produced a mild surprise the week before, beating the AFC North champion Bengals 24-14 in Cincinnati. Can they make it three in a row? Well, the first upset came against a fading Cincy team, and the second was at least partly the product of a tremendously fortunate matchup. San Diego, while a strong team, was decidedly one-dimensional this season, leaning heavily on a terrific passing game to mask a non-existent rushing attack and a shaky defence. That played into the hands of Jets coach Rex Ryan. The defensive mastermind knew he could nullify the Chargers’ greatest asset with his top-rated pass D, led by cornerback Darrelle Revis, and use powerful backs Shonn Greene and Thomas Jones to take the pressure off rookie passer Mark Sanchez. Could that blueprint also work against the Colts, who have strengths and weaknesses similar to the Chargers’? Maybe. But while Manning is the alpha and omega of the Indy offence, there’s at least a semblance of a running game there, and the defence is better than San Diego’s.

Key number: 5. That’s how many field goals opposing kickers have missed, in five tries, against the Jets in the post-season. New York has benefited from brilliant luck during its playoff run, whether it be the shank-fest by Shayne Graham and Nate Kaeding or favourable matchups. It’s hard to imagine them getting blown out in Indy given the Jets’ suffocating D and clock-killing runners (Manning’s penchant for long drives should also shorten the game), but the Colts represent New York’s toughest challenge to date.

Bonus key number: 3. That’s the number of rookie QBs, before Sanchez, who led their teams to conference title games: Shaun King (1999), Ben Roethlisberger (2004) and Joe Flacco (’08). They all lost.

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Brett Favre threw for four TDs in Minnesota’s divisional-round rout of the Cowboys. (Elsa/Getty Images)

NFC: Minnesota at New Orleans (6:40 p.m. ET)

The line: Opened at Saints minus-4, but most books dropped it to minus-3.5.

The setup:

New Orleans is back doing what it does best: scoring in bunches. The NFL’s most prolific attack shook off the rust of a bye week, and a meaningless regular-season finale before that, to blow out a excellent Arizona team 45-14 in last Saturday’s divisional-round matchup. Drew Brees threw touchdown passes to three different receivers and Reggie Bush ran in a pair of scores — the second on a punt return — as the Saints snapped the three-game losing streak that followed their 13-0 start. Minnesota represents a tougher test, but creative New Orleans coach Sean Payton shouldn’t have to alter his attack very much. The Saints’ underrated running game and the Vikings’ stout rush defence may cancel each other out, meaning this game could be chose in the air. Fine by Payton, whose team tied for the league lead in passing touchdowns with the wonderful Brees spreading the ball around to a host of capable hands. Minnesota, despite having a scary pass rush, didn’t fare well against the throw this year. With cornerback Antoine Winfield and end Ray Edwards hobbled by injuries, will the Vikings pass D suddenly get better in front of those rabid fans at the Superdome?

Minnesota crushed the team many considered to be the hottest in football last week, stopping the red-hot Cowboys in their tracks with a 34-3 dismantling at the Metrodome. Brett Favre threw for four touchdowns in his first playoff game as a non-Packer, and ace pass rusher Jared Allen spearheaded a savage assault on a Dallas offensive line weakened by the absence of left tackle Flozell Adams. That’s the key to this week’s game, too. If Brees has time to survey his options, there’s a excellent chance he picks apart the Minnesota secondary. If he’s forced to run for his life a la Tony Romo, things get a lot more fascinating. When the Vikes have the ball, this could be the week that Adrian Peterson emerges from the shadows. The franchise tailback had a silent season in terms of yards gained, and his six lost fumbles led all non-quarterbacks. Last week? A paltry 63 yards on 26 carries (2.4 yards per rush). The Saints’ run defence is porous, so AP should have ample opportunity to break off a long one.

Key number: 38. That’s how many points the Vikings were outscored by in their last three road games, all losses: 30-17 in Arizona, 26-7 in Carolina, 36-30 in OT in Chicago. Minnesota is fabulous inside the friendly confines of the Metrodome, where they went 9-0. On the road, they’re 4-4.

Ferguson Jenkins says Mark McGwire owes an apology to all those pitchers who gave up his home runs.

Jenkins, a Hall of Fame pitcher from Chatham, Ont., sent an open letter to The Associated Press this week, telling the former home-run king: “You have not even begun to apologize to those you have harmed.”

“How many pitchers do you reckon he finished their careers by hitting numbers of home runs off them?” Jenkins said during a telephone interview Wednesday.

Jenkins said he would have known how to handle the bulked-up McGwire, who hit a then-record 70 homers in 1998 and followed with 65 the following year.

“It’s tough to hit a home run off your back,” Jenkins said. “In my era, Seaver, Gibson, Drysdale, Carlton — there were so many guys that would have probably knocked him on his butt.

“He wouldn’t have hit home runs the way he did.”

Thirty years ago, Jenkins himself became one of the first players caught up in baseball’s struggles with drug discipline. Commissioner Bowie Kuhn suspended him after the pitcher’s arrest in Canada on charges of cocaine possession, but the penalty was overturned by an arbitrator less than two weeks later — the first time a baseball commissioner’s ruling was reversed.

A judge gave Jenkins an absolute discharge: no fine, no jail term and no record.

‘You’ve altered pitchers’ lives’

Hired in October by manager Tony La Russa as hitting coach of the St. Louis Cardinals. McGwire last week admitted he used steroids for a decade, including when he broke Roger Maris’s season home-run record in 1998.

Jenkins is one of several Hall of Famers to criticize McGwire, a group that includes Goose Gossage and Carlton Fisk. Hank Aaron has said he’s willing to forgive McGwire, tied for eighth with 583 home runs.

“You have yet to apologize to all the pitchers you faced while juiced,” Jenkins wrote. “You altered pitchers’ lives.

“You may have shortened pitchers’ careers because of the advantage you forced over them while juiced. Have you thought about what happened when they couldn’t get you out and lost the confidence of their managers and general managers?

“You even managed to alter the place some athletes have achieved in record books by making your steroid-fuelled run to the season home-run record.”

Fifty-one pitchers gave up a total of 57 homers to McGwire in what turned out to be their final major-league seasons, according to STATS LLC, among them Bert Blyleven, Orel Hershiser, Dennis Martinez, Charlie Leibrandt and Donnie Moore.

Jenkins said in his letter that McGwire needs to apologize to others as well.

“You need to apologize to your family for depriving them of your presence as time goes on because you are likely going to die earlier than if you had never relied on andro to carry you to all your successes,” he said.

‘LaRussa is his buddy’

McGwire admitted at the time of the home-run chase in 1998 that he used androstenedione, a steroid precursor that was made a controlled substance in 2004, when it also was banned by baseball.

Jenkins dismissed McGwire’s assertion that he took steroids because of injuries and that they didn’t help improve his performance. He also didn’t reckon McGwire will make a very effective hitting coach.

“La Russa is his buddy,” Jenkins said. “That’s the only reason he got to be hitting coach.

“I’m not sure a home-run hitter can teach a excellent hitter, a contact hitter, how to play, how to hit. He swung for the fences most of the time. How you going to teach a guy that’s a .240 hitter to place it in play?”

Jenkins, who plans to make appearances at spring training for the Chicago Cubs, was especially vocal about McGwire’s scant Hall of Fame support: He doesn’t expect it to increase. He also thinks the admission last week was directly related to McGwire re-entering baseball.

“He wasn’t going to stay in hiding the rest of his life,” Jenkins said. “Why did it take five years?

“Why didn’t he come clean as soon as he quit? There’ll be a lot of pressure place on him by a lot more reporters come spring training.

“He really hasn’t touched on what he ought to be saying to the public or to fellow ballplayers. If you’re going to hold a press conference, hold a press conference.”