(CNN) -- The powerful earthquake that rocked Haiti "destroyed" much of Port-au-Prince, the country's first lady reported, as the widespread devastation in the country's teeming capital came into full view Wednesday as dawn broke.

The United States was the first to offer help after the 7.0-magnitude quake hit Haiti on Tuesday, Joseph said. He told reporters at the Haitian Embassy in Washington that it is crucial to assess the condition of the airport at Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital, so aid can start coming in.

"We talked with the first lady of Haiti last night, at least our consulate general in Miami did," Raymond Joseph, Haitian ambassador to the United States, told CNN's American Morning, referring to Elisabeth Debrosse Delatour.
"And she said that she was all right and the president {Rene Preval] was all right, and most government officials were all right because this thing happened after hours, and most of the government buildings that have collapsed, collapsed after the employees were out."

But "the bad news is that she said most of Port-au-Prince is destroyed, and she's calling for some help in the form of a hospital ship off the coast of Port-au-Prince, just in the same way that the United States had helped us in 2008 after four hurricanes hit Haiti in three weeks."

"God has given, God has taken away," he said, urging that the living must be the priority right now.


(UPH) - Here is how you can help give to the Haitian earthquake relief efforts...  

www.yele.org
https://american.redcross.org/ 
www.opusa.org
www.unicef.org,