W. Babylon woman still awaits word from Haiti

Lucia Anglade didn't go to work Thursday.

"I just couldn't do it," the West Babylon native of Haiti said.

Anglade, 46, a school bus driver, has been trying over and over to contact two brothers and a sister who live in Port-au-Prince, the country's capital city, but has had no luck.

So she waits and worries about her family, among the thousands of Haitians affected by the devastating earthquake that hit the Caribbean country on Tuesday.

The only options for Long Islanders like Anglade and Carmite Michel, a lab technician from Lindenhurst, appear to be waiting and hoping.

Michel said her efforts to reach her sister and brother-in-law, also residents of Port-au-Prince, have been fruitless.

"We've tried 10 or 15 times to contact them, she said, "but there is no answer, no communication whatsoever."

Michel has three other sisters, each of whom live on Long Island, and a brother in Brooklyn. Each has taken turns making phone calls and sending e-mails to their sister in Haiti, she said.

"The only thing we can do is pray," she said.

On Wednesday night, Anglade did speak to the wife and son of one of her brothers, both of whom live in Florida. Neither has had any news from Haiti, she said.

Anglade is thinking about going to her native country, but her friends tell her to stay and wait until the area is clear.

"They keep telling me to wait, but I just want to go," Anglade said. "I really don't know what to do ... I can't even watch on TV, to be honest."

Even Long Islanders who believe family members in Haiti to be safe have been forced to play a waiting game.

Suze Myrthil, 51, a nurse's aide from Uniondale, said she heard on Tuesday that both her mother and brother - vacationing in their native Haiti - were safe in a shelter in Port-au-Prince.

After the earthquake hit, Myrthil said, her mother used a cell phone to make a phone call.

"My mother called my sister in Brooklyn to tell her they were OK," Myrthil said. After a few minutes on the phone, the call was lost. "We have not heard anything since."

Myrthil said every time her phone rings she's hoping it's updated news.

While she knows deep down her mother and brother are safe, she said she also has a cousin visiting Haiti. So far, she has not heard anything about her cousin's welfare.

"It's extremely painful to just wait and not hear anything," Myrthil said.

>>PHOTOS: Frantic rescue effort in Haiti | Deadliest recent earthquakes

>> LIVE: Twitter coverage of the scene in Haiti, from aid agencies, and reaction worldwide

>> VIDEOS: Latest videos from Haiti and on LI

>> MORE: Read more about LIers grieving and LI's efforts to help | Latest news from Haiti | Haiti's road to chaos: 2006 Newsday series

HOW TO HELP

* You can help immediately by texting "HAITI" to "90999" and a donation of $10 will be charged to your cell phone bill and given automatically to the Red Cross to help with relief efforts.

* Wyclef Jean, a rapper and hip-hop artist from Haiti, urged people to text "Yele" to 501501 to donate $5 toward earthquake relief. Yéle Haiti is a grassroots movement inspiring change in Haiti through programs in education, sports, the arts and environment, according to its Web site.

* The State Department Operations Center has set up the following number for Americans seeking information about family members in Haiti: 1-888-407-4747. The Red Cross has also set up a Web site to help family members find and contact relatives.

* You can also go online to organizations such as the Red Cross and MercyCorps to make a contribution to the disaster relief efforts.

The FBI warned Internet users to be wary of e-mail messages seeking donations in the aftermath of the quake. People who want to send money or assistance should contribute to known organizations and should be careful not to respond to unsolicited e-mails, officials said.

Other Web sites accepting donations include:

-Haitian Health Foundation
-Hope for Haiti
-UNICEF
-International Medical Corps
-Beyond Borders
-AmeriCares