Port-Au-Prince:
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called the devastating quake in Haiti the "most serious humanitarian crisis" to have confronted the world body in decades.
Previous toll estimates from the Haitian government and aid agencies after Tuesday's 7.0-magnitude quake that flattened the capital Port-au-Prince and other towns in western Haiti have ranged between 50,000 and 100,000.
After an emotional reunion in Port-au-Prince with Michele Montas, a Haitian who until late last year was his spokeswoman, Ban was to meet President Rene Preval and receive a helicopter tour of the disaster zone.
"I am going to Haiti with a very heavy heart to express solidarity and full support of the UN to the people of Haiti," Ban told journalists accompanying him on the day-long trip.
Tuesday's 7.0-magnitude quake has killed tens of thousands of Haitians and was also the worst ever disaster to befall the UN with 40 staffers confirmed dead and nearly 330 others still unaccounted for.
"We have to prepare for the worst," Ban said as he flew out of Newark, referring to UN employees still missing after the disaster that flattened much of Port-au-Prince and nearby towns in western Haiti.
Ban said the three top priorities were: to save as many people as possible, to bring emergency humanitarian aid in the form of water, food and medication, and to coordinate the massive aid effort.
Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of hungry Haitians have been waiting for help, many of them in makeshift camps on streets strewn with debris and decomposing bodies.
The international community fears the death toll from the earthquake in Haiti could be as high as 2,00,000, the US general running the military relief effort indicated today, cautioning that no one could know for sure.
"We are going to have to be prepared for the worst," Lieutenant General Ken Keen, deputy commander of US Southern Command, said when asked by ABC News whether 150,000 to 200,000 people may have died in the disaster. (With inputs from AFP)