CORAOPOLIS, Pa. — More than 50 Haitian orphans rescued from post-earthquake squalor landed this morning at Pittsburgh International Airport, on their way to foster homes and eventually adoptive families after relatives of their caretakers used Twitter and Facebook to spread the word about their plight.

The children, some wrapped in blankets and carried off the plane and others walking by themselves and waving to onlookers, were loaded onto waiting buses. They are among the first in a wave of orphans expected to be evacuated from the shattered Caribbean nation to the U.S. and other countries.

The Air Force flight's landing capped days of preparations and maneuvering by American caretakers, lawmakers and government officials. The orphans were cared for by two Pittsburgh-area sisters whose family and friends used social networking to let the world know they were in dire need of food, water, diapers — and a plane to ferry them out of Port-au-Prince after last week's massive earthquake.