QUAKE-NEPAL/FRENCH TOURISTS French tourists stranded, thousands injured in Nepal quake

Record ID: 1374105

  • Title: QUAKE-NEPAL/FRENCH TOURISTS French tourists stranded, thousands injured in Nepal quake
  • Date: 26th April 2015
  • Summary: KATHMANDU, NEPAL (APRIL 26, 2015) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (ANI - NO ACCESS BBC) VARIOUS OF FRENCH TOURISTS SEATED, TALKING (SOUNDBITE) (English) FRENCH TOURIST, PATRICK LEON, SAYING: "When the earthquake started, we were in the minibus to go to Bhaktapur and suddenly everything around was moving. We were very surprised because I thought first that bus is going to crash, our bus, because (it was the) first time I lived (through) an earthquake. Everybody started shouting and go out of bus and everything was moving." VARIOUS OF FRENCH TOURISTS SEATED (SOUNDBITE) (English) ANOTHER FRENCH TOURIST, CAROLINE, SAYING: "Today we don't know if the airport is open, if we have a flight, we don't know. We have no information, we would like, but we have nothing."
  • Embargoed: 12th May 2015 08:19
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Nepal
  • Country: Nepal
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA79XD8GR8Z6Y9SUDT6WQ764U24
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS MATERIAL WHICH WAS ORIGINALLY 4:3
    French tourists stranded in Nepal after a massive earthquake are seeking assistance to get home as the death toll on Sunday (April 26) continued to rise.
    The 7.9 magnitude quake struck at midday on Saturday (April 25) at a busy time of year for the tourism-reliant nation's trekking and climbing season, with an estimated 300,000 foreign tourists in the country.
    "When the earthquake started, we were in the minibus to go to Bhaktapur and suddenly everything around was moving. We were very surprised because I thought first that bus is going to crash, our bus, because (it was the) first time I lived (through) an earthquake. Everybody started shouting and go out of bus and everything was moving,"said Patrick Leon, one of the tourists.
    The group of French tourists stranded in Kathmandu said they were without phone and internet connections.
    Some of them have not been able to contact their families for over 20 hours.
    "Today we don't know if the airport is open, if we have a flight, we don't know. We have no information, we would like, but we have nothing," said Caroline, another French tourist.
    The official death toll from the earthquake has reached more than 2,200.
    Rescuers have been digging with their bare hands as bodies pile up after the earthquake devastated the heavily crowded Kathmandu Valley.
    Nearly 1,000 climbers and sherpas around Mount Everest were caught by the tremors and a huge avalanche that claimed the highest toll of any disaster on the world's highest mountain.
    A big aftershock between Kathmandu and Everest unleashed more avalanches in the Himalayas.
    With Nepal's government overwhelmed by the scale of the disaster, India flew in medical supplies and relief crews, while China sent a 62-strong emergency team. Other countries including Pakistan and the U.S. are also sending aid.
    Relief agencies said hospitals in the Kathmandu Valley were overflowing and running out of medical supplies. Hospital workers stretchered patients out onto the street to treat them as it was too dangerous to keep them indoors.
    Some buildings in Kathmandu toppled like houses of cards, others leaned at precarious angles, and partial collapses exposed living rooms and furniture in place and belongings stacked on shelves.
    Thousands of people spent the night outside in chilly temperatures and patchy rain, too afraid to return to their damaged homes.
    On Sunday, survivors wandered the streets clutching bed rolls and blankets, while others sat in the street cradling their children, surrounded by a few plastic bags of belongings.
    The main earthquake, centred 80 kilometres (50 miles) east of the second city, Pokhara, was all the more destructive for being shallow.
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