MIAMI: Danglass Gregoire headed to Florida for a business trip on Tuesday, leaving his wife and young daughter behind in Haiti, close to the center of a major earthquake that has devastated the island nation.

When he arrived at Miami International Airport, the 41-year-old said he isn't sure if they are alive.

Haitian-Americans in Miami, New York and other US cities tell the same story of frantically trying to get through to relatives and friends to see if they survived the largest earthquake to hit the Caribbean nation in 200 years. Communications were widely disrupted, making it impossible to get a full picture of damage and casualties as powerful aftershocks shook the desperately poor country where many buildings are flimsy.