Editor's Note: There's death and destruction almost everywhere in Haiti. But amid all the chaos there are signs – however small – of life trying to return to Port-au-Prince. Our Jason Carroll reports on that part of the story from the Haitian capital.

By Jason Carroll and Justin Dial

We witnessed tense moments at a Unibank just outside the city of Carrefour. People, who had lined up and waited hours for it to open for the first time since the earthquake, were pushed back by armed guards.

Astrid Napoleon had been waiting on line since 7 a.m. for the bank to open. She said she is hopeless because she has nothing at home, no money and nothing to eat. Later, Astrid leaves the line and gives up.

The bank's reopening is just one sign of how some are trying to get Port-au-Prince back on its feet. But the trouble there shows just how difficult that's going to be.

"Its hard to get in and it's crazy out here. ... There's no law and order," says Anderson Bellegarde.

Larger, established stores are hiring private security guards to watch properties damaged in the quake. But most business taking place now is happening on a smaller level, out on the streets.

Makeshift markets are popping up next to destroyed buildings all over the city. People are coming out and starting to sell basic goods such as vegetables, bread and sugar cane.

But some goods are being sold at inflated, post-earthquake prices. That goes for gas too. It has tripled in price, as much as $26 a gallon.

But a haircut at a barber shop we found is still only two U.S. dollars. Now, if the owner could only find customers with money to pay and gas to run his generator.

In the streets, there is a contrast of commerce: someone gets a shoe-shine, and the sadder and much more frequent sight of men trying to keep up with the demand for coffins.

People's hearts go out to Haiti's orphans and Secretary Clinton says the U.S. won't let red tape stand in the way of helping them. But it does have to follow international adoption procedures to protect those children, and those laws did not change as a result of the earthquake.

The State Department says before the earthquake there were as many as 900 parents in the U.S. who had filed paperwork with the Department of Homeland Security saying they intended to adopt from Haiti. There are three groups of orphans the State Department is dealing with:

1. Orphans already in the process of being adopted. 50 of them have been given visas. Most of them have been flown out of the country.

2. Other orphans were in the early stages of adoption. Parents had been identified and those parents had gone through many of the U.S. And Haitian legal procedures. The U.S. now has waived that paperwork and the children have been given humanitarian parole. Several hundred have been flown to the U.S. to meet with the prospective parents. They can stay in the U.S for 2 years where the parents can complete adoption process.

3. Children who have not yet been matched with adoptive parents will not be moved from Haiti, at least right now – unless they have a medical condition. The State Department says it's working with orphanages to find protection for them.

The organization "Save the Children" says the "vast majority of children currently on their own in Haiti are not orphans but simply separated from families." Those relatives could be alive and desperate to find them and "taking children out of the country immediately," they say, "would cause even more trauma" and could allow traffickers to exploit these children.

If you want to adopt a child from Haiti, the State Department says it's best to wait until some of the chaos subsides, but you can get started by checking out their Web site: www.adoption.state.gov

If you already are adopting a Haitian child and need help you should send detailed information to: Haitianadoptions@dhs.gov. They match it with their information and help get that child out of Haiti.

Port-au-Prince, Haiti (CNN) - Aid is reaching earthquake-torn Haiti, but getting it to the people who need it remains a challenge.

Large quantities of medications, baby formula and other relief supplies are sitting on the tarmac and in warehouses at the Port-au-Prince airport, but no one is moving it out, according to CNN chief medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta.

"It's like everywhere we go, just walking through the airport, outside the airport even, people are saying, 'We need supplies,'" Gupta said.

Gupta found pallets of formula, pain medication and antibiotics standing unattended next to the runway.

U.S. military personnel in a warehouse tent at the airport gave Gupta a trash bag full of supplies to take back to a hospital he had visited earlier but couldn't explain why there seemed to be no organized system for distribution. FULL STORY

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Learn more about the organizations providing emergency aid, shelter, medical help, food and water - and how you can help. Visit Impact Your World.

The U.S. Coast Guard was among the first American responders to bring help to the Haitian people. The coast guard now has a number of ships and aircraft there to help with the response. Pilot Lieutenant commander Bill Strickland and Captain James Mcpherson, a spokesman for the coast guard spoke with CNN's Kiran Chetry Thursday.

Life in Haiti is largely taking place on the streets and in make-shift communities. In part because survivors are terrified remaining structures could still collapse. So what will it take to rebuild haiti? CNN's Jason Carroll reports.

Washington (CNN) - Stung by criticism that aid hasn't been getting into earthquake-ravaged Haiti quickly enough, U.S. officials say they are taking steps to rectify the problem and the perception.

A senior administration official involved in the aid operation acknowledged Wednesday that not all aid, particularly medical supplies, was getting through fast enough and attributed it to two factors.

Dozens of planes were flying into the Port-Au-Prince airport in Haiti, carrying a variety of food, water, medicine and search-and-rescue gear.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said military personnel on the ground were sometimes confused about what each plane was carrying.

The military will now station aid officials in the airport control tower to assess the contents of each flight and to ease the flow of aid, the source said.

Also, a Web-based system has been created so that aid groups, donor countries and others can track when each flight is scheduled to land and the supplies it has aboard.

The official also said the operating procedure of the U.N. Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) says it can work without security only during daylight. The arrival of U.S. troops means they can take over a large share of security and speed the processing of aid.

Read the full story here