VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The major Catholic aid agencies in Haiti continued to step up their assistance to the devastated country, feeding tens of thousands of people as the rebuilding effort begins.

Caritas Haiti and the U.S.-based Catholic Relief Services were delivering nearly 100 tons of food to Port-au-Prince during the week of Jan. 25 to feed at least 50,000 people in one of the city's biggest camps, Petionville Club, Caritas Internationalis said in a statement Jan. 28.

Caritas said the church agencies had already brought food, water, medicine and other supplies to more than 25,000 people in the two weeks following the earthquake Jan. 12 that flattened Port-au-Prince. It said serious challenges remained in logistics, communication and security. People were becoming more desperate for food, but the aid was getting through, it said.

It said that as of Jan. 26, donors worldwide had contributed more than $63 million to Caritas for relief efforts in Haiti.

Before the distribution began in large camps, such as Petionville Club, relief partners needed to make sure the sites were safe, and that those most in need -- the injured and elderly -- would receive help first, the statement said.

To ensure the safety of both beneficiaries and staff members, Caritas distributed colored tickets to people depending on which part of the camp they lived in. Food and supplies were given to assigned quadrants each day according to ticket color.

CRS emergency response leader Donal Reilly said that to avoid confusion, recipients need to be told exactly what is happening, what they will receive and when.

"Communications with beneficiaries is so important in distributions like this," Reilly said.

Caritas workers said the policy has worked effectively to maintain order in the distribution of supplies and food in the camps.

Meanwhile, Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, permanent representative of the Holy See to U.N. agencies in Geneva, said the rebuilding effort in Haiti demands respect for basic human rights.

"In the case of Haiti, the right to life, to food, water, health, development, an adequate life expectancy, the right to decent work, among others, were already largely absent," Archbishop Tomasi told the Human Rights Council Jan. 28.

"The recent tragedy is a call to the solidarity of the international community to respond immediately to these requirements of the Haitian people and to place these human rights at the base of a healthy plan of reconstruction," he said.

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