SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – While residents were just starting to pick up the pieces from last month's deadly 7.8-magnitude quake, another 7.3-magnitude earthquake rattled Nepal on Tuesday.
Todd Winzenried, a Utah native who is still in Nepal, described the moment the second quake struck.
“Everybody started running out into the street and we saw everything start shaking and then we stopped the car and the car was still shaking and the wires above us were swaying,” he said. “Big traffic jam all of the sudden, ambulances going, police going. I mean, it was pretty crazy for about three hours after.”
Winzenried said he stayed in the region with legendary Everest guide Apa Sherpa to help those in need.
He said the devastation is widespread and it’s difficult to reach residents in the remote areas.
“People don't even seem to understand the damage that has occurred up in the high mountains,” Winzenried said. “Even the helicopters, because of the altitude, can't carry much weight.”
Jerry Mika, director of the Apa Sherpa Foundation, said they have set up a supply chain.
Mika said residents who live in the outlying regions are in desperate need of tents, food and other relief.
“It's the grassroots effort,” he said. “Everybody throws a little bit of supplies up there and calls it good. It's not good. You know, the village right now, 600 people still without any type of shelter."
Surya Bastakoti, owner of The Himalayan restaurant in Salt Lake City, said his family is shaken up by both earthquakes and is trying to survive one day at a time.
He added monsoon season is coming and they are worried about the weather making an already difficult situation even worse.
“People around there have like a ‘we survive another month, another day, another night,’ [attitude],” Bastakoti said. “Because it’s the pounding, one after another. So they don’t have hope anymore. Their hope is gone.”
Many local organizations are setting up relief efforts and fundraisers.
Jim Webber from the Nepal Cleft and Burn Center opened a hospital in Nepal that is caring for the injured. They’re accepting donations on their website at http://www.nepalcleftandburncenter.org.
The Apa Sherpa Foundation is also accepting donations at www.apasherpafoundation.org.
