Couple details survival of Haiti quake

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - Two missionaries from Indianapolis are back home after surviving last week's 7.0 magnitude earthquake in Haiti.

Kay and Gary Walla were back in their guest house after wrapping up their first full day in Haiti. Their team of 9 volunteers, from St. Luke United Methodist Church in Indianapolis and Milroy United Methodist in Rush County, spent the day painting classrooms and doing electrical work at a school and orphanage in Fondwa.

"We had had showers and heard this horrible noise overhead that sounded like a train or a jet plane hitting the wall," explained Kay.

The Walla's shared their story on Daybreak and also chronicled it in a letter to friends. ( Click here to read the letter )

It details every moment from when they arrived to the earthquake to their story of survival for the first 24 hours.

Walla described, "Very cold in the mountains by dark. It happened just about an hour before dark and then we realized we had nothing but short sleeved shirts. Some people had on shorts. In order to survive the night we had to cuddle up together to keep each other warm."

The team had to persevere knowing some of their Haitian friends and hosts did not survive.

The Walla's explained how their Pastor and Team Leader, Jamalyn Williamson spoke fluent Creole and presided over a funeral for one of the Christian sisters and a baby.

The days immediately after the quake were spent sleeping on the ground, finding food which at first consisted of grapefruits from a nearby tree and trying to find a way to contact their families to tell them they're OK.

"We also realized that the highways were covered with landslides. So our leader found us some people who have motorbikes and we rode on the backside of motorbikes down the hill until we could get someplace where we could go into Port-au-Prince and of course, the embassy took good care of us and got us back to Florida," said Gary.

The couple said they'll continue to work to help their Haitian friends rebuild.