Haiti Earthquake: Survivors Inspire Search Teams to Keep Digging Through Rubble

Jan. 21, 2010— -- They were pulled out thin, malnourished and injured, but survivors of the Haiti earthquake who continue to be rescued after nine days in the rubble have given search and rescue teams the inspiration to keep digging.

Crews clapped and cheered Wednesday as a 5-year-old boy was pulled out and smiled along with an 8-year-old girl who flashed a grin during her rescue, despite spending eight days trapped under a building.

"Life has been given back to these individuals, so I hope that they enjoy it," one of the rescuers told "Good Morning America."

But the life to which the survivors returned can be anything but joyous. Frangina, 14, was pinned under the rubble for days with friends, 6-year-old Nazer and 5-year-old Kevin.

She learned later that Kevin did not survive.

"I mean, I felt terrible," she said. "It was like he died in my hands."

Frangina and 23 family members have taken refuge at her aunt's house, where they share one outdoor latrine. There is no power and no running water.

Frangina, left with only the clothes she was wearing the day of the earthquake, had yet to receive medical attention. She had a scar on her leg where a nail had pierced her skin and received one meal a day.

"I feel a little dizzy," she said through a translator. "My head turns and sometimes I feel like I'm going to fall down."

In Port-au-Prince, some people are questioning how much longer the mission to rescue survivors from the rubble will continue before it turns into a recovery effort.

Airborne Corps Maj. Gen. Daniel Allyn said Tuesday that his command would soon make that decision.

"We fully expect that we will transition very soon from the search phase to the recovery phase, and obviously, we continue to be in prayer," Allyn said.

The State Department confirmed 33 American deaths today in Haiti. More than 6,000 people have been evacuated.

As the death toll mounts, workers rush to bury bodies as fast as they can, using earthmovers to create and cover up mass graves.

"I have seen so many children, so many children," Foultone Fequiert, 38, told The Associated Press. "I cannot sleep at night, and, if I do, it is a constant nightmare."

The dead stick out at all angles from the mass graves; tall mounds of chalky dirt, the limbs of men, women and children frozen together in death. "I received 10,000 bodies yesterday alone," he said.