for the Study and Treatment of Loss . The waiting finally came to an end for Hosty on Thursday evening when she heard through a cousin that her mother was alive . And though she has n't been able to speak with Theravil directly , she 's sleeping again . `` I know there are other problems that are coming with food and water , but I feel relief that she 's not dead , '' Hosty said . `` My cousin said my mommy is OK . '' The toll of the quake is not yet known , but government officials said deaths may exceed 100,000 . Emergency crews have already arrived in the Port-au-Prince area , but there are no indications when communication lines will be restored . Haiti is the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere , with a weak infrastructure even before the earthquake . The panic , anger and sadness since the quake are similar to the responses seen after the September 11 attacks , Hurricane Katrina and the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami . Those unexpected disasters claimed many lives and left family members who suffered losses to grieve for years , psychology experts say
-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Is she hurt ? Is she getting help ? Is she even alive ? Those were the jumbled thoughts that raced through Sereth Hosty 's mind in her Long Island , New York , home as she tirelessly scoured the news and Web for clues to the whereabouts of her elderly mother in Haiti . Since an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.0 struck Tuesday , Augusta Thervil , 83 , was among the growing number of people who had gone missing in the Port-au-Prince area . And her daughter was among those living in limbo . `` I check . I check . I check , '' Hosty said earlier this week . She had spent two days trying to reach her mother , neighbors and family friends by phone . She even placed a posting on CNN.com 's iReport with her mother 's picture . With phone lines and electricity down , people with family and friends in Haiti are struggling to live with uncertainty . `` To not know and be waiting is one of the most difficult situations to be in , '' said Therese Rando , clinical director of the Institute