Amid the the horribly difficult scenes of destruction and loss, NPR photographer David Gilkey sent us a few encouraging images today. Relief efforts are finally trickling in and smiles emerged amid the sadness at a soccer stadium in Port-au-Prince.

A Haitian woman receives her first ration of foreign aid in a soccer stadium
David Gilkey/NPR

A Haitian woman receives her first ration of foreign aid in a soccer stadium in Port-au-Prince Saturday.

Some of those untouched by official relief efforts, founds ways to help each other.

  • Firefighters yell for help as they try to put out a fire at the Pasta Mamma noodle factory in Port-au-Prince on Monday.
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    Firefighters yell for help as they try to put out a fire at the Pasta Mamma noodle factory in Port-au-Prince on Monday.
    All photos by David Gilkey/NPR
  • People scramble to pick up spilled spaghetti at the burning restaurant. With food supplies already low, the fire is yet another blow to a desperate capital.
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    People scramble to pick up spilled spaghetti at the burning restaurant. With food supplies already low, the fire is yet another blow to a desperate capital.
  • A man grips a knife as he looks for other looters to come out of a shop near downtown Port-au-Prince on Sunday.
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    A man grips a knife as he looks for other looters to come out of a shop near downtown Port-au-Prince on Sunday.
  • A man carries a shotgun as he walks through a collapsed burning building while trying to keep looters at bay on the streets outside in the commercial district of downtown Port-au-Prince.
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    A man carries a shotgun as he walks through a collapsed burning building while trying to keep looters at bay on the streets outside in the commercial district of downtown Port-au-Prince.
  • A body, with tied limbs and apparent gunshot wounds to the head, lies in the street Monday.
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    A body, with tied limbs and apparent gunshot wounds to the head, lies in the street Monday.
  • Robenson Bernard cries at a hospital in downtown Port-au-Prince on Monday. Bedridden since November, none of the family members who used to take care of him have come since the quake.
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    Robenson Bernard cries at a hospital in downtown Port-au-Prince on Monday. Bedridden since November, none of the family members who used to take care of him have come since the quake.
  • A Haitian girl, whose nose and cheek were shattered in the quake, holds her head at the main hospital in downtown in Port-au-Prince.
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    A Haitian girl, whose nose and cheek were shattered in the quake, holds her head at the main hospital in downtown in Port-au-Prince.
  • A U.S. Navy helicopter flies over Port-au-Prince on Monday.
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    A U.S. Navy helicopter flies over Port-au-Prince on Monday.
  • Soldiers with the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division prepare to board helicopters to create operating bases across Port-au-Prince on Monday.
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    Soldiers with the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division prepare to board helicopters to create operating bases across Port-au-Prince on Monday.
  • United Nations soldiers hand out water in front of the National Palace on Sunday.
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    United Nations soldiers hand out water in front of the National Palace on Sunday.
  • Across Port-au-Prince, people attend Sunday services in the rubble of churches.
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    Across Port-au-Prince, people attend Sunday services in the rubble of churches.
  • A man walks past Our Lady of Assumption Catholic Church in downtown Port-au-Prince.
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    A man walks past Our Lady of Assumption Catholic Church in downtown Port-au-Prince.
  • A Haitian woman receives her first ration of foreign aid in a soccer stadium in Port-au-Prince on Saturday.
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    A Haitian woman receives her first ration of foreign aid in a soccer stadium in Port-au-Prince on Saturday.
  • Haitians line up for U.N. food rations. Desperately needed aid is finally arriving in Port-au-Prince, but congestion at the airport is hampering efforts to get supplies to survivors.
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    Haitians line up for U.N. food rations. Desperately needed aid is finally arriving in Port-au-Prince, but congestion at the airport is hampering efforts to get supplies to survivors.
  • Women stand in line for food rations being handed out by the United Nations Friday in Port-au-Prince.
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    Women stand in line for food rations being handed out by the United Nations Friday in Port-au-Prince.
  • A Haitian man tries to keep a crowd from rushing a U.S. Navy helicopter as it unloads water in a Port-au-Prince park.
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    A Haitian man tries to keep a crowd from rushing a U.S. Navy helicopter as it unloads water in a Port-au-Prince park.
  • As survivors await international aid Sunday, Haitian men pass out water and soda taken from a collapsed store near Port-au-Prince.
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    As survivors await international aid Sunday, Haitian men pass out water and soda taken from a collapsed store near Port-au-Prince.
  • A boy uses a jug of water to wash off in a city park near the national palace.
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    A boy uses a jug of water to wash off in a city park near the national palace.
  • Across Port-au-Prince Haitians are scrambling to salvage what they can. A woman carries a bag of clothing recovered from her apartment.
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    Across Port-au-Prince Haitians are scrambling to salvage what they can. A woman carries a bag of clothing recovered from her apartment.
  • Refugees wait in a makeshift camp Saturday near downtown Port-au-Prince.
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    Refugees wait in a makeshift camp Saturday near downtown Port-au-Prince.
  • People gather around broken water pipes to collect fresh drinking water Friday in Port-au-Prince.
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    People gather around broken water pipes to collect fresh drinking water Friday in Port-au-Prince.
  • The streets are filled with people carrying their few remaining belongings.
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    The streets are filled with people carrying their few remaining belongings.
  • The search for people in the rubble continues. A Haitian rescue worker helps the L.A. County Search and Rescue team in in downtown Port-au-Prince.
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    The search for people in the rubble continues. A Haitian rescue worker helps the L.A. County Search and Rescue team in in downtown Port-au-Prince.
  • Haitians watch the L.A. rescue team's efforts at a collapsed building. Officials estimate at least 50,000 people were killed by the quake.
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    Haitians watch the L.A. rescue team's efforts at a collapsed building. Officials estimate at least 50,000 people were killed by the quake.
  • A boy tries to get a drink as looters scavenge the rubble of a supermarket Saturday in Port-au-Prince.
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    A boy tries to get a drink as looters scavenge the rubble of a supermarket Saturday in Port-au-Prince.
  • First Lt. Greg Bitner watches over Haitian men who have gathered at the airport in hopes of getting work.
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    First Lt. Greg Bitner watches over Haitian men who have gathered at the airport in hopes of getting work.
  • Haitians leave Port-au-Prince on a flatbed truck. Other towns in Haiti were also hit hard, but not much aid has made it beyond the devastated capital.
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    Haitians leave Port-au-Prince on a flatbed truck. Other towns in Haiti were also hit hard, but not much aid has made it beyond the devastated capital.
  • A man stands on a rooftop yelling out for any sign of his missing relatives Friday in a devastated hillside neighborhood near downtown Port-au-Prince.
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    A man stands on a rooftop yelling out for any sign of his missing relatives Friday in a devastated hillside neighborhood near downtown Port-au-Prince.

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There was also joy to be found on the faces of those who'd been rescued. It's hard to believe that the woman below had spend the previous 50 hours trapped in a pile of rubble.

  • Sarla Chand, 65, from New Jersey, is in good condition after being rescued from the collapsed Hotel Montana in Port-au-Prince on Thursday.
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    Sarla Chand, 65, from New Jersey, is in good condition after being rescued from the collapsed Hotel Montana in Port-au-Prince on Thursday.
    All photos by David Gilkey/NPR
  • Chand, who had been trapped since Tuesday, was in good physical shape after her rescue. She thanked her rescuers while undergoing a medical exam.
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    Chand, who had been trapped since Tuesday, was in good physical shape after her rescue. She thanked her rescuers while undergoing a medical exam.
  • Mexican rescue workers carry their cadaver dog off the roof of the St. Gerard school outside Port-au-Prince.
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    Mexican rescue workers carry their cadaver dog off the roof of the St. Gerard school outside Port-au-Prince.
  • A hillside neighborhood is seen totally destroyed near downtown Port-au-Prince.
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    A hillside neighborhood is seen totally destroyed near downtown Port-au-Prince.
  • Haitian men dig for a relative in a collapsed house outside of the capital.
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    Haitian men dig for a relative in a collapsed house outside of the capital.
  • Men run with a casket after locating a family member's body among the hundreds strewn in the streets outside the National Hospital in Port-au-Prince.
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    Men run with a casket after locating a family member's body among the hundreds strewn in the streets outside the National Hospital in Port-au-Prince.
  • A man tries to cover his wife with any bit of shade he can find while awaiting help outside the National Hospital in Port-au-Prince.
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    A man tries to cover his wife with any bit of shade he can find while awaiting help outside the National Hospital in Port-au-Prince.
  • Mexican rescue workers try to extract the bodies of victims crushed during the collapse of the St. Gerard school outside of Port-au-Prince.
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    Mexican rescue workers try to extract the bodies of victims crushed during the collapse of the St. Gerard school outside of Port-au-Prince.
  • Haitian men carry the body of a child to a dump truck near downtown Port-au-Prince on Thursday.
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    Haitian men carry the body of a child to a dump truck near downtown Port-au-Prince on Thursday.
  • Haitian men cover their faces from the stench of decay as bodies are removed from the streets of Port-au-Prince.
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    Haitian men cover their faces from the stench of decay as bodies are removed from the streets of Port-au-Prince.
  • A front end loader is used to speed the removal of the bodies.
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    A front end loader is used to speed the removal of the bodies.
  • A man stands with his child on his shoulders outside a collapsed building. In what has long been the Western Hemisphere's poorest nation, shock was giving way to despair.
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    A man stands with his child on his shoulders outside a collapsed building. In what has long been the Western Hemisphere's poorest nation, shock was giving way to despair.
  • Men ride on the back of a truck leaving Port-au-Prince. U.N. officials warned that Haitians are becoming increasingly fed up with the pace of aid.
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    Men ride on the back of a truck leaving Port-au-Prince. U.N. officials warned that Haitians are becoming increasingly fed up with the pace of aid.
  • Aid supplies remain scarce and bodies still litter the streets.
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    Aid supplies remain scarce and bodies still litter the streets.
  • Workers are trying to deal with the thousands of bodies piling up at the central morgue at the National Hospital in Port-au-Prince.
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    Workers are trying to deal with the thousands of bodies piling up at the central morgue at the National Hospital in Port-au-Prince.
  • As of Thursday, as many as 50,000 people had died in the earthquake, according to an estimate from the Haitian Red Cross. A morgue worker stands amid the devastation.
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    As of Thursday, as many as 50,000 people had died in the earthquake, according to an estimate from the Haitian Red Cross. A morgue worker stands amid the devastation.

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Tragically, however, these are only a few fleeting moments in a vast sea of destruction. It's painful to browse through the photos that are emerging. And yet they tell the story so poignantly, it's hard to look away.

  • Millions of earthquake survivors in Haiti are still waiting for the bulk of fresh food, water and other basic supplies.
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    Millions of earthquake survivors in Haiti are still waiting for the bulk of fresh food, water and other basic supplies.
    All photos by David Gilkey/NPR
  • NPR photographer David Gilkey witnessed a heightened level of desperation when U.S. aircraft dropped water on a park in Port-au-Prince.
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    NPR photographer David Gilkey witnessed a heightened level of desperation when U.S. aircraft dropped water on a park in Port-au-Prince.
  • Gilkey says there was only one Navy officer to keep people away as the helicopter unloaded. Another man stepped in to help fend off the crowd.
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    Gilkey says there was only one Navy officer to keep people away as the helicopter unloaded. Another man stepped in to help fend off the crowd.
  • "There must have been 200 people scrambling toward the helicopters," Gilkey says. "The blades were still turning."
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    "There must have been 200 people scrambling toward the helicopters," Gilkey says. "The blades were still turning."
  • "As soon as we were beneath the rotor blades, [the crew] jumped on the helicopters and took off, because it was just getting out of hand."
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    "As soon as we were beneath the rotor blades, [the crew] jumped on the helicopters and took off, because it was just getting out of hand."
  • The crowd of men shoved and pushed to scoop up packages of bottled water. "It was just absolute pandemonium."
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    The crowd of men shoved and pushed to scoop up packages of bottled water. "It was just absolute pandemonium."
  • Aid is actually flooding into Haiti, but bottlenecks at the airport allow only a trickle of those supplies to flow. Meanwhile, people are doing whatever they can to survive.
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    Aid is actually flooding into Haiti, but bottlenecks at the airport allow only a trickle of those supplies to flow. Meanwhile, people are doing whatever they can to survive.

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Keep checking back to the Picture Show for our latest updates. We are expecting new images not only from Gilkey, but also NPR photographer John Poole. After three nights stuck on the island of Providenciales, he has finally touched down in Haiti.

Relief workers Mark and Cari Spradlin
Enlarge John Poole/NPR

Husband and wife Mark and Cari Spradlin repack emergency medical supplies at a hotel on Providenciales Island while waiting for transport to Port-au-Prince.

Relief workers Mark and Cari Spradlin
John Poole/NPR

Husband and wife Mark and Cari Spradlin repack emergency medical supplies at a hotel on Providenciales Island while waiting for transport to Port-au-Prince.