Ms Clinton was due to visit Canberra and Melbourne next Monday for talks with Australia's Foreign Minister Stephen Smith and Defence Minister John Faulkner.

This morning she confirmed she was cancelling the trip as the US ramped up its efforts to get aid into Haiti's devastated earthquake zone.

Her planned visits to Papua New Guinea and New Zealand have also been scrapped.

Ms Clinton said she had been personally floored by the Haitian disaster.

"It is biblical, the tragedy that continues to stalk Haiti and the Haitian people," she said, adding that the outlook for Haiti had been slowly stabilising before the quake.

"We had private business beginning to make investments ... There was so much hope about Haiti's future. Hope that had not been present for years. And along comes Mother Nature and just flattens them."

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Haiti factbox

• Population: 10 million (UN, 2009)
• Capital: Port-au-Prince
• Area: 27,750 sq km (10,714 sq miles)
• Major languages: Creole, French
• Major religion: Christianity
• Life expectancy: 59 (men), 63 (women) (UN)
• Monetary unit: 1 gourde = 100 centimes
• Main exports: Light manufactures, coffee, oils, mangoes
• GNI per capita: US $660 (World Bank, 2008)

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