Criminal gangs in Haiti offers support, as quake death toll hits 2,207

The death toll from last week's earthquake of 7.2 in Haiti rose to 2,207, with 344 people missing, according to the country's civil defence agency.  The number of deaths is rising at a time when relief operations are expanding, and authorities are struggling with security at distribution points. Gangs hijacked aid trucks and even ambulances, forcing relief workers to transport supplies by helicopter. Recovery efforts have also been hampered by floods and damage to access roads, tensions in some of the hardest-hit areas.

On Sunday, one of the capital's most famous gangsters announced in a social media video that his allied gangs had reached a ceasefire and were ready to help. If this proves to be true, it can allow an acceleration of relief efforts.

Jimmy Cherizier, alias "Barbecue", leader of the G9 Revolutionary Forces, addressed a Facebook video to the hardest hit parts of the southwestern peninsula of Haiti.

"We want to tell them that the G9 revolutionary forces and allies, all for one and all for all, sympathize with their pain and suffering," the Cherizier said.

"The G9 revolutionary forces and allies ... will share in the relief by helping them. We invite all citizens to show solidarity with the victims."

The death toll on late Wednesday was  2,189. The government said on Sunday that 344 people were still missing, 12,268 people were injured and nearly 53,000 homes were destroyed by the earthquake.

The collapse of the churches in some of the worst affected towns and villages of the impoverished Caribbean nation has left residents to mourn in open fields.

In the hard-hit town of Les Cayes, some attended outdoor church services on Sunday as shrines were badly damaged by the earthquake, which was focused on the nation's southwestern peninsula.

About 200 worshipers gathered early in the Parish Saint-Joseph The Simon Roman Catholic Church on the outskirts of the city for the first Sunday Mass since the disaster.

"Everyone was crying today for what they had lost," said the pastor, Marc Orel Sael. "And everyone is stressed because the earth is still shaking," he added, referring to almost daily aftershocks that rattled nerves all week.