Haitian President René Préval made a surprise address to the Miami-Dade School Board on Wednesday, asking the district for surplus portable classrooms to help in the hurricane relief effort.

Préval's unexpected visit brought members of the board and others in the audience to their feet with a standing ovation when the Haitian leader entered the auditorium.

''As you know, over the past two months, Haiti has suffered two hurricanes,'' Préval said, speaking in French with a translator at his side. ``It is like Katrina in Haiti. All of the schools have been damaged, all of the health centers are damaged and all of the homes have suffered damage.''

The portable classrooms, Préval said, would be used for schools, shelters and health centers.

''We still have people sleeping on the street, or on the roofs of their houses,'' Préval said. ``The children are exposed to the sun and the rain. It is unimaginable.''

School Board members said they would look into donating the portable classrooms, which would otherwise be destroyed.

Préval also thanked the School Board and new Superintendent Alberto Carvalho for their contributions to the relief effort.

''In the name of the children of Haiti, I thank you,'' he said.

Préval stopped at the School Board meeting while en route to a summit in Canada, he said.

Prior to addressing the board, Préval spent some time speaking privately with Carvalho, who traveled to Haiti earlier this month.

During the trip, Carvalho met with Prime Minister Michele Pierre-Louis and traveled to two of the hardest-hit areas -- the northwestern port city of Gonaives and Cabaret, just north of Port-au-Prince.

Carvalho paid for the trip out of his own pocket, he said.

School leaders and students have also been collecting food and supplies at schools throughout the county. And Carvalho asked a number of community organizations and corporations to donate backpacks for kids.

Carvalho said 15 shipping containers' worth of goods had already arrived in Haiti. He hoped to send an additional 15 containers in the coming weeks.

The district has also donated out-of-service school buses to Haiti, and is helping to secure two garbage trucks from a private company.

Préval said the portables were ``something that could rescue Haiti from the situation in which we are living.''

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