Federal agencies are mobilizing to send aid to Haiti after a 7.0-magnitude earthquake yesterday devastated the country and caused perhaps tens of thousands of deaths.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is coordinating the federal government's response to the earthquake. The agency said it has dispatched a disaster response team, which includes federal employees and law enforcement personnel, search-and-rescue dogs, and more than 40 tons of rescue equipment. USAID said that team should arrive this afternoon; other search-and-rescue teams are expected to arrive Thursday.

In a statement to reporters this morning, President Obama said the State Department is trying to account for U.S. Embassy personnel stationed in Port-au-Prince and their families, along with other Americans living and traveling in Haiti.

"For a country and a people who are no strangers to hardship and suffering, this tragedy seems especially cruel and incomprehensible," Obama said. "I have directed my administration to respond with a swift, coordinated, and aggressive effort to save lives."

The State Department also launched a [:http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/site/entry/disaster_haiti:]campaign[:] to encourage Americans to donate to relief efforts.

Defense Department officials say they are preparing to send 30 people to Haiti, including military engineers and operational planners. The team will fly in on two C-130 aircraft from the Puerto Rico Air National Guard, and will work with Haitian officials and U.N. staff in Port-au-Prince.

Obama said he ordered several P-3 Orion aircraft to fly over Haiti and assess the damage to the island country. Haitian officials have also asked the Pentagon to send a hospital ship to treat the wounded.

"This is a tragic situation and we will work alongside the Haitian government to provide immediate assistance in the rescue effort," said Rajiv Shah, USAID's ambassador and the lead federal official coordinating the American response.

Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, and it sits atop a major fault line. The quake destroyed countless private homes, many of them poorly constructed; witnesses on the ground say the earthquake also destroyed most of the country's hospitals and many government buildings. Even the presidential palace was damaged. Haiti's prime minister, Jean-Max Bellerive, said more than 100,000 people may have died in the earthquake.

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