Haiti Survivors Share Quake Stories

(CBS)  Rick Santos thought he might never see his wife and sons again.

"There were a couple dark moments thinking about them growing up without me," Santos told CBS News Correspondent Manuel Gallegus. "It was very emotional."

(Watch the report Gallegus submitted below)

An estimated 45,000 Americans were in Haiti when the earthquake struck. Hundreds have already been evacuated and were back home Saturday, but others are missing and feared dead. Many were staying at the same hotel in Port-au-Prince.

Complete Coverage: Devastation in Haiti

The head of a non-profit health organization and five colleagues were buried for two days in the rubble of Haiti's Hotel Montana.

"We heard crashing, it went dark, dust everywhere in our mouths and throats, there was just kind of a silence," Santos said.

The Hotel Montana was filled with Americans when the quake hit. Among them was Lynn University student Melissa Elliott, who was on a mission to help Haiti's poor.

"Everything started to shake and I managed to get between the two beds and the floor just dropped underneath my feet," she said.

The Elliotts' only daughter came home, but four other Lynn students and two professors are still missing.

It's been particularly cruel for the parents of 19-year-old Britney Gengel.

They were told she was alive, but it was a mistake. They still don't know what's happened to her.

"This is our worst nightmare," Gengel's father Len said on CBS' "The Early Show". "We send our daughter to school. We believe she's safe. We honor her wish to help the poor."

Of the more than 5,000 known cases involving Americans in Haiti, 15 are confirmed dead.

On social networking sights like Facebook, there are pleas for loved ones to be found safe.

The survivors all reveal an inner strength.

John Scarboro dug himself out of the rubble of the Hotel Montana. His son in law and two business partners are still missing.

Dr. Sarla Chand's son was astonished as he saw his mother rescued on TV.

"To actually see her getting pulled out of the rubble is intense," Shiraz Lal, Chand's son, said.

Chand is now back home in Maryland

Melissa Elliott has the cuts and bruises of a survivor but wants to stay strong for her missing friends.

"I'm sure in a couple of days it will all set in and hit me," she said, "but right now I'm OK."


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