Doug Reckord from the Bournda Environmental Education Centre wrote in to the Bega District News from Kathmandu.

For the two weeks prior to the quake Mr Reckord had been working as a volunteer with the Orange Rotary Daybreak team working on education and health projects in the region.

The 7.9 magnitude quake struck Nepal on Anzac Day, just before midday, while Mr Reckord and his colleagues were travelling on a major four-lane road.

His is a haunting account from the scene.

“We had left the Anzac Day ceremony at the Australian Embassy for a sight-seeing tour of World Heritage sites around the city,” Mr Reckord said.

“All of a sudden it felt like the bus had somehow developed several flat tyres, such was the severity of the shuddering.

“Several people yelled out in alarm, ‘What's happening to the bus?’.

“In front of us, several motorbike riders lost balance and dropped to the ground.

“We stopped.

“There was some confusion before Prakash Aryal, our tour guide, yelled ‘Oh my God, it's an earthquake!’

“There was an eerie silence without the constant beeping of horns that is normal in Kathmandu traffic.

“The vertical blinds in the windows of the nearest building were swaying back and forth like a pendulum.

“We got out of the bus and the ground beneath us rose and fell just like the deck of a ship in a moderate swell.

“There were no overhead bridges, tall buildings or power lines near us and as I was videoing events I can be heard to say, ‘we couldn't be in a better place’.

“People from the surrounding buildings obviously agreed with that assessment as they had rushed to the centre of the roadway.

“After several minutes the swaying stopped as the effects of the quake subsided and some of the traffic began to tentatively flow again. 

“We got back on the bus with very little idea of how much damage had been done, but quickly came to a halt. 

“A little further down the road huge cracks had opened up in the roadway stopping traffic.

“One was opening up near us and our bus driver managed to turn the bus around and we headed in the opposite direction.

“We stopped in another open area and experienced the first of what would be many aftershocks - at 6.6 magnitude it was also a major quake.

“People began streaming up and down the road in both directions and there was a palpable sense of fear and confusion.” 

Mr Reckord said many people weren't in such a favourable location to survive the earthquake.

“I spoke to an older couple from Sale who had been lunching at the nearby ancient Bhaktapur World Heritage site.

“They had barely got outside and buildings were collapsing. 

“They saw two people being pulled from the wreckage and a woman being given CPR.

“This is where we had been heading for our lunch.

“We had been delayed - that turned out to be a tremendous stroke of luck. 

“Many were not so lucky.”

On Monday morning, Mr Reckord said a member of the Rotary team, a nurse, was consoling a Frenchman who had been hit by an avalanche in the Langtang Valley.

He had been unable to find his Nepali wife who was missing, presumed dead. 

“Langtang Village was reportedly wiped out by landslides and avalanches and many are still missing there,”  Mr Reckord said.

“I was going to be trekking to Langtang on the 4th of May. 

“We later heard that the man's wife had been killed.

“With thousands dead and billions of dollars of damage, Nepal, one of the world's poorest nations, has been dealt a savage blow.

“Outside the capital much of the population is in remote rural villages and assistance is unlikely to come soon. 

“The Nepalese people were wonderfully hospitable to us and it breaks my heart to think of the struggles these lovely people have to face.

“However, I know they are resourceful and resilient and with our help they will be able to recover from this terrible disaster.

“Please give generously,” he said.