Nepal: Irish woman describes moment earthquake struck

Speaking from outside Nepal’s second city Pokhara, Irish woman Dee Ambrose (36) described the moment the earthquake struck.

“It had just seemed to settle this week and the locals were sleeping indoors again when another one hit today at about 12.50pm.”

“The building started to rattle, which is not uncommon, but this continued.”

“We’ve been sleeping through little tremors for weeks so it almost [seemed] normal. It took us a moment to realise this was a proper one and we needed to move.”

She said the earthquake sent people running out into the streets but the danger posed by buildings damaged in the first earthquake along with the added risk of landslides made finding safety more difficult.

“Everyone runs for open spaces but it’s hard to find somewhere [safe],” she said.

While the city of Pokhara wasn’t as badly affected by the first earthquake as Kathmandu, some 200km away, buildings sustained structural damage and some outlying villages were badly hit and had yet to receive aid.

“Some places haven’t received anything,” she said.

“Surrounding villages have already been destroyed by the first one, so a lot of people are trying to help from here.”

She said hundreds were sheltering under tarpaulins and that local people were doing their best to bring relief to those who need it.

“A lot of people here are gathering aid and bringing it on jeeps and bikes.”

“They’ve been coming back in the last day or two and describing places around Ghorka that haven’t had any food yet.”