Scared but OK in Haiti: N.L. woman

A woman from western Newfoundland and hundreds of children in her charge at an orphanage outside Port-au-Prince are safe after Haiti's massive earthquake.

Karen Huxter said Tuesday's quake was frightening but didn't harm any of the children at her orphanage.

Huxter is the founder and director of the Hands Across the Sea orphanage and mission in Deschappelles, about 40 kilometres outside Port-au-Prince.

She's sent emails to her family in Steady Brook, in western Newfoundland, to say that she's fine.

"Everyone was scared but OK," wrote Huxter on her blog (Hands Across the Sea, Deschappelles, Haiti).

Her brother, Robert Huxter, told CBC News on Wednesday that the earthquake affected the building Huxter lives in.

"She said all the structures were OK except the main house. There were some cracks in that. So, they decided that they and all the people there would sleep outside or in a different structure Tuesday night," said Robert Huxter.

Hands Across the Sea helps children and their families in Haiti. It runs an orphanage, a school serving children from preschool to Grade 9, and a community outreach program.

In the meantime, a family from central Newfoundland is also closely following the events in Haiti.

Two brothers from Glovertown, Emerson and Vaden Oram, are in Port-au-Prince on a business trip, trying to develop markets for fish plants they own.

This is Vaden's first trip to Haiti; Emerson has been there previously on missionary trips to help repair an orphanage and build a school.

Emerson's daughter, Corina George, said Vaden called home by cellphone early Wednesday morning to say they were OK, but shaken by what they are experiencing.

"He phoned his son this morning, 6 o'clock, and basically all he spoke about was the devastation, the screams and the cries," she said.

George said the two brothers spent the night outside, in the parking lot of their hotel. She said a secure, fenced area that was under the control of armed guards protected them.

"They had one woman come up to the gate screaming she had lost her entire family and begging to be let in, so they let her in," George said.

The Orams were using their cellphone to make calls for other hotel guests who wanted to let their family and friends know they were safe.

Late Wednesday afternoon, the Orams  made contact with their family in Glovertown once again to say they have enough food and water for the next few days.

George said she is relieved the two brothers are OK, but still worried.

"There's the uncertainty of exactly how they're doing and when the relief efforts are going to show up and when they're going to be evacuated," she said.