Nepal Earthquake

This is a brief update following Saturday’s earthquake to let everyone know that both Katie and myself are safe and well in Pheriche, if a little tired and shaken. The last 48 hours have been non-stop, with very little sleep and a lot of stress. We have just managed to reestablish our internet connection, so it is only now that we are seeing the full magnitude of what has hit Nepal, outside of  the bubble that we have been in here in the Everest Region.

 

On Saturday, we had just arrived back from spending a cold night, benighted high up on the Kongma La Pass at 5,400 metres due to heavy snow, when the earthquake struck at 11:56 am local time. Initially we thought and hoped that it was localised and perhaps a major landslide somewhere in the valley, however primally reports quickly confirmed this not to be the case. In Pheriche, over 90% of the buildings have been damaged, some of them completely flattened, but by some stroke of luck there was only one minor head injury.

 

Virtually all forms of communication were cut off and we were intially unable to contact our collogues at Everest ER or our families back in the UK. Eventually we heard, via the HRA office in Kathmandu that Everest ER were ok, although had received some damage to their camp and a number of casualties.On Sunday, after a sleepless night which included a number of large aftershocks and rushing from our beds on several occasions, we were informed that a large number of critically injured casualties were to be evacuated from Everest Base Camp to the HRA Clinic at Pheriche. The first two arrived, just after 6:30am,  both in a bad state, with multiple fractures. My role quickly developed in to one of Crisis Management, co-ordanatining between helicopter crews, doctors and many many volunteers who gave up their time to help out in every way they could, whilst triaging what turned out to be over 70 patients with multiple injuries, before eventually getting patients back on to helicopters and evacuated to Lukla and Kathmandu.

 

There was simply no time to even think about picking up a camera throughout the whole experience, however it was both unbelievable and unforgettable. I’m so grateful to have had the opportunity to work with such an amazing team of doctors here at the Himalayan Rescue Association Post in Pheriche during the last month, along with the incredible team at Everest ER. We can only say a massive thank you to the huge team of volunteers, who turned up on Sunday morning to help. I know, I asked your names, but I instantly forgot them, but I saw so many amazing faces time and time again helping injured strangers throughout the day. This meant that the doctors and myself could concentrate 100% on those that needed the most assistance and getting all 73 climbers evacuated safely.

 

If you have family or friends in Nepal, who you have yet to hear from, please register on this site: http://familylinks.icrc.org/nepal-earthquake.

If you are in Nepal reading this and safe please register as soon as possible, so friends at home know you are ok: http://familylinks.icrc.org/nepal-earthquake. Please share the link far and wide.

Please bare in mind that virtually all forms of communication have been down throughout most of Nepal. Our satellite internet connection was only reestablished in the mountains late on the evening of the 27th April and cell coverage has been almost non existent. We are told that there is very little electricity in Kathmandu,  so charging phones and laptops will be difficult and will further hinder communication.