 | | ABC NEWSMAIL SPECIAL: Monday 27 April 2015 |  | | The moment the ground started to shake | |  | | The ABC's Siobhan Heanue was in Patan's Durbar Square, a historic temple complex on the outskirts of Kathmandu, when Saturday's earthquake hit Nepal. This is what she saw:
The tremors were so violent that people started falling to their knees around me. The earth rocked and rocked and then a crumbling, crunching sound began to emanate from the pagodas.
People screamed and I ran for my life along with them as buildings collapsed around us, sending plumes of yellow dust into the air. Without a safe place to go to I plunged into a dark cafe, the instinct to hide taking over.
When I went outside, hundreds of men had clambered on top of the giant piles of rubble that had been pagodas, clawing at wooden beams, stones and religious carvings in a desperate bid to find survivors. But they only pulled bodies from the wreckage. | |  | | Hospitals overflowing, towns cut off as death toll climbs | |  | | Hospitals in Nepal are struggling to treat thousands of injured earthquake survivors, as aid groups and governments worldwide step-up efforts to get help to the stricken Himalayan nation. This morning Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said 830 Australians in Nepal had been confirmed safe, but that the Government was looking into reports that one Australian had been killed when the earthquake triggered a massive avalanche on Mount Everest.
Thousands of injured earthquake survivors are being treated at public hospitals in Kathmandu and the lakeside town of Pokhara. The ABC's Samantha Hawley visited one Kathmandu hospital where she described the scene: "The stretchers spill out into the corridors while many patients lie on the floor clearly in pain".
"The injuries range in seriousness but most commonly they are suffering fractures and head wounds. And as the weather worsens outside, the homeless take refuge in the hospital too making the already chaotic scene worse." | | | | Everest avalanche survivors recount tales of horror and amazing luck | |  | | Survivors of an avalanche on Mount Everest triggered by the earthquake have recounted horrifying moments from the disaster.
One survivor, George Foulsham, said the latest disaster on Everest felt like a message from the mountain that "it's not meant to be climbed for now". "I ran and it just flattened me. I tried to get up and it flattened me again. I couldn't breathe, I thought I was dead," he said. "When I finally stood up, I couldn't believe it passed me over and I was almost untouched." | | | | International aid groups, rescue teams scramble to help | |  | | International aid groups and governments have escalated efforts to dispatch rescuers and supplies to Nepal, but severed communications and landslides posed formidable challenges to the relief effort. "Roads have been damaged or blocked by landslides and communication lines are down, preventing us from reaching local Red Cross branches to get accurate information," said Jagan Chapagain, Asia Pacific director of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).
Although mobile networks appeared to be being restored by mid-afternoon on Sunday, Plan International said coverage remained sporadic.
The Australian Government said it was organising to send an Australian Crisis Response Team to Nepal. It has also given $5 million in assistance to Australian NGOs, UN agencies and the Australian Red Cross. | | | | In pictures: Earthquake devastation in Nepal | |  | | | See a selection of images from the immediate aftermath of the devastating quake, the frantic search through the rubble and the efforts to care for survivors. | | | For complete coverage visit ABC News. | | About this email:
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