Clinton sees "long-term effort" to help Haiti

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gives a foreign policy speech about US and Asia bilateral relations at the East-West Center during her stop over in Honolulu, Hawaii January 12, 2010.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Thursday the United States will provide long-term assistance to help Haiti recover from this week's devastating earthquake.

"This is going to be a long-term effort. We have the immediate crisis of trying to save those lives that can be saved, to deal with the injured ... to try to provide food, water, medical supplies, some semblance of shelter," Clinton said on NBC's Today show.

She said the U.S. government was also prepared to work with the Haitian government and other international partners to begin rebuilding the stricken country.

"This calamity has affected 3 million people. It has caused the collapse of ten of thousands of buildings. We know that there will be tens of thousands of casualties," Clinton added without providing specific numbers on fatalities.

Clinton said in a separate interview on CNN that a U.S. military team had reopened the airport so that heavy aircraft could begin to arrive.

She also pledged U.S. help for the crippled Haitian government. "The authorities that existed before the earthquake are not able to fully function. We're going to try to support them as they re-establish authority," she told CNN.

Clinton said a 7,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping force was helping to maintain order and would receive help controlling looting and other violence from the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division later on Thursday. "The peacekeeping force ... is out on the streets, they're clearing streets, they're bringing law and order," Clinton said on NBC.

The Pentagon was sending an aircraft carrier, which she said would arrive soon, and three amphibious ships, including one that can carry up to 2,000 Marines.

"We've got a very coordinated, aggressive response going on," Clinton, who cut short a trip to the Pacific to return to Washington and deal with the crisis, said on CNN.

"We've sent some of our crack search and rescue teams into Port-au-Prince. They're beginning their work. We're coordinating with the Haitian president, President Preval."

(Reporting by David Morgan and Bill Trott, editing by Vicki Allen)