The Haitian community around Osceola County spent most of the week awaiting word from family and friends from the island, as local groups and organizations mobilized to provide earthquake disaster relief.

Communication has proven difficult or nearly impossible for those trying to get in touch with relatives through landlines or cell phones.

Jeanette Apollon, a longtime Kissimmee resident, has been trying since Tuesday, when the 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit Haiti and devastated the island, especially its capital, Port-au-Prince.

Apollon has most of her family, including her brothers and sisters, still living on the island, but has not been able to contact any of them.

“I’ve been trying to call one after the other, every five to 15 minutes,” she said. “I can’t get anything.”

She and relatives as far as France have been relying on each other to gather updates about their family’s situation.

The small bits of news they’ve been able to receive have them concerned, Apollon, who moved to the U.S. from Haiti in 1981, said.

Her sister in Paris got in touch with family members, and told Apollon a step-sister’s home in the outskirts of the capital was destroyed by the earthquake. A nephew's home in Versailles also was damaged.

The worst news, she said: One of her nieces has not been found, and family members fear she could be dead.

“We don’t know,” she said. “A lot of people are lying on the street dead. I don’t know if they have found her, or maybe they haven’t seen her.”

St. Cloud resident Magda Read also had few details. As of Thursday night, she had not been able to reach her brother in Port-au-Prince.

Haiti President Rene Preval said on Wednesday he believed tens of thousands were killed after the earthquake struck Tuesday afternoon.

Reports from the island described schools, hospitals, homes and other buildings in most of the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince — including Parliament and the presidential palace — had collapsed, leaving people trapped underneath debris from the flattened structures trying to escape.

Haiti has a population of about 10 million. According to published reports, 45,0000 to 50,000 people were killed in the earthquake.

Apollon, who makes frequent mission trips to Haiti, said its people, government and buildings — many of which are aging, frail structures — were not equipped to handle a disaster of that magnitude.

“We were not prepared for something like that,” she said. “Not even the government was prepared. I don’t know how they’re going to recover.”

She said it would take some time for her native country to recover, but that it would eventually.

“I’m praying to God everyday,” Apollon said. “Haitian people are very strong, even in poverty. They still try to live their lives.”