Idaho woman survived Haiti quake by counting smiles and divine intervention

BOISE -- Katie Zook, the N-N-U graduate who survived the Haiti earthquake talks. We first told you about Zook the day after the earthquake. We've kept you up-to-date on her progress. Now we hear her story in her words.

Scott Evans talked with her this afternoon via Skype. From the comfort of her hospital bed, Katie Zook took us back to that fateful day in Port au Prince. This is her story of the earthquake that killed over 100,000 people.

"It happened so quickly. The first thing that I remember was there was a very loud rumble," said Katie Zook.

It was the end of a long day for Katie Zook. She was four months into a two year mission for the Free Methodist Church. She was working on the top floor of a four story concrete building, when the now infamous Haiti earthquake struck.

"It started moving and I knew it was an earthquake, but you know, I've had earthquakes in Washington and this was nothing like that, it was horrendous, just so much movement," said Zook.

Standing in the doorway, Zook realized that was not the best place to be. She bolted for cover under a single legged round wooden table.

"And I grabbed on to the leg and covered my neck with my left arm and closed my eyes and don't remember anything else until everything was black," said Zook.

Everything - the concrete walls, the concrete ceiling and the concrete floor buckled. The table and the way the rubble crumbled created a small pocket. Small enough for Zook to move her hands a little and her head from side to side.

"Did you know that you were alive? At first I wondered, but it didn't take me too long to figure it out. Breathing and sweating and being able to smell the dust, I figured out where I was and what had happened, but I didn't know how bad the damage was, I didn't know if I could get myself out. I didn't know anything like that because I couldn't see anything," said Zook.

Moments of panic settled in. What if I'm never found? What if I run out of air? What if ... what if ... what if.

"One thing that calmed me down was I started counting the times that I smiled, because ironic things would go through my head and make me laugh, and so it helped calm me down to count how many times I would smile," said Zook.

But counting smiles didn't bring her closer to rescue. She could hear her boss’s husband, Jack, screaming for help - directing rescuers. But he couldn't hear her.     For three hours she alternated between screaming and tapping a bottle against the rubble.

"When we finally heard familiar voices it was very comforting," said Zook.

They eventually heard her.

"I was looking for light because one of the guys that was digging had a flash light, and was kept asking me do you see the light, do you see the light, so when I finally saw the light I just started screaming that I saw the light, and I was very very excited," said Zook.

For 30 minutes rescuers removed the rubble

"They had to dig carefully. They had to find me, and then once they found me they had to make sure that the rocks they pulled out didn't make more rocks fall on me," said Zook.

The concrete that fell on her crushed her left side. It collapsed a lung, fractured ribs, fractured vertebrae and caused nerve damage on her left arm.

"When they first pulled me out they had to kind of uncurl me, which was painful, and they laid me out on the hood of the car and everything was black and dusty and I couldn't see what Port au Prince looked like," said Zook.

Taken to a UN Hospital, she spent the night on a mattress outside. Then to the U-S Embassy.  Then Guantanamo and eventually to a hospital in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. There she spent 10 days in ICU before moving to Acute Care where she sleeps tonight.

"I consider this a miracle," said Zook.

"I just think it's important that we don't quickly forget Haiti, that this event doesn't just fade.

Katie's parents have been by her bedside ever since she returned to the states. Her condition is constantly improving. She's waiting for one more surgery then she'll be released. She's hoping that comes sometime next week. She should have a full recovery.

Of the eight people inside Zook's building at the time of the earthquake, only four survived. Two of the people who died were missionaries. They had been there only for an hour and a half.