United Nations, Sep 22 (IPS) - As the death toll from Hurricane Jeanne climbed to more than 700 in Haiti Wednesday, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged the international community to quickly mobilise humanitarian aid for one of the world's poorest countries.

As the death toll from Hurricane Jeanne climbed to more than 700 in Haiti Wednesday, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged the international community to quickly mobilise humanitarian aid for one of the world's poorest countries.

The number of missing people has topped 1,000 in the area surrounding the northwestern coastal city of Gonaives, and the death toll is expected to rise further, the U.N. Stabilisation Mission in Haiti reported today.

As the flood waters recede, more of Jeanne's victims are being revealed. U.N. peacekeepers planned to bury 200 people in mass graves today to stem the spread of disease.

”Haiti has already taken enormous blows in the past year from drought, flooding and political unrest,” said Abby Maxman, the country director for CARE, an international NGO fighting poverty in over 70 countries. ”This latest disaster just underscores the importance not just of emergency aid, but of long-term solutions to poverty.”

After preliminary assessments of the damage, the International Federation of the Red Cross issued an emergency appeal for 3.3 million dollars to help 40,000 of the most vulnerable victims for six months.

Several countries have already begun sending aid, including 1.8 million dollars from the European Union, 1 million dollars plus rescue supplies from Venezuela, 115,000 dollars from Japan, 200,000 from Switzerland, and tents and medicine from Martinique. The United States has pledged 50,000 to the effort -- an amount one democratic congressman from Florida called ”a drop in the bucket”.

On Sep. 19, the U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) Haiti office approved a payment of 200,000 dollars to meet the most pressing needs while a full emergency programme of action is organised.

However, the aid pool amassed so far is still likely to fall short as the full magnitude of the disaster unfolds.

The most urgent need, according to experts on the ground, is for clean drinking water in areas swamped by mud. But distribution of clean water has been hampered by a lack of fuel, and roads blocked by debris and high water, according to U.N. officials.

Haitian Prime Minister Gerard Latortue, who flew over Gonaives by helicopter Sunday, described it as a ”vast sea”.

”There is not one house in the city of Gonaives that is not flooded,” Latortue said, adding that at least 80,000 people will require food aid.

Eighty percent of Gonaives was under six to nine feet of water on Sunday, according to Oxfam, a prominent Brisith charity. Local radio stations reported that over 100,000 homes had been seriously damaged.

A U.N. humanitarian assessment mission that traveled to the region Monday reported that 50 percent of the town is still submerged. The U.N. Stabilisation Mission itself lost 75 percent of its camp to the rising waters, and estimates that 80 percent of Gonaives' population is affected by the flooding.

Most of the area's farmland, which the people depend upon for food, has been devastated. Several thousand people displaced by the floods are staying in some 20 locations around the city, according to the U.N.

WFP and CARE expect to distribute 40 metric tonnes of food at 10 different points in the region.

As the Gonaives hospital has been flooded and power is fluctuating, support for local health care is critical, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

WHO and other aid agencies have only managed to deliver small amounts of medical supplies so far, according to officials, who fear that looting of food and medicine distribution centres is likely. They say that adequate security will be deployed at these locations, but that the precautions will pull manpower from rescue operations.

Crews from CARE are ready to launch a full-scale relief operation in Haiti as soon as floodwaters recede, said Abby Maxman.

CARE staff, who lost a colleague Sunday to the floodwaters, are preparing to participate in an emergency response, in coordination with the government of Haiti, U.N. agencies and other international charities. But with the city of Gonaives, CARE's headquarters in the region, still under water, staff movement is at a standstill.

Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Eighty percent of its population lives on less than 150 dollars a year, according to WFP statistics. Malnutrition is widespread, with severe or moderate stunting affecting almost half of children under five.

Jeanne is the fourth hurricane to tear through the Caribbean in the last month. It follows on the heels of Hurricanes Charley, Frances and Ivan, which also wreaked havoc on other islands and parts of the United States.

The worst, however, may be yet to come. Another eight tropical storms are expected to hit the region over the coming weeks, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric