Notes of death, destruction, despair in diary

It was just another routinely busy day for Hu Hanjun, a riot police officer with Chinese peacekeepers in Haiti.

But 10 days after the devastating earthquake struck the Caribbean nation, the entries in his diary on Jan 23 evoke a stark picture of the desperation of the survivors, the daily perils the peacekeepers face and the race to conduct relief operations.

On that day, Hu and nine Chinese colleagues were tasked with escorting a delegation from the United Nations headquarters in New York to inspect the town of Leogane to estimate the damage there and lay the groundwork for relief work.