Openhouse reports on the catastrophic earthquake in Nepal and resulting avalanche on Everest.

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On Saturday the 25th April, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit Nepal, with a force so strong it affected neighbouring countries India and Tibet. Nearly 5,500 people have died in the disaster, and 10,000 were injured.

The earthquake caused one of the largest avalanches the world has ever seen on Mount Everest, which lies to the North East of Nepal, killing 18 people and injuring 60 more. Terrifying video footage has shown a wall of snow, over 100ft high, travelling towards the Everest Base Camp. Many of the people who were at the basecamp survived by lying underneath tables in the camp or behind tents, wherever they could find cover.

Base Camp had been crowded with people hoping to make the most of the good weather that April and May had offered.

George Foulsham, a marine biologist, spoke to the international news agency, AFP, to describe the terrifying moment when the avalanche hit.

“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. When I finally stood up, I couldn’t believe it passed me over and I was almost untouched.”

People were being dug from the snow and stretchered to safety, some in makeshift stretchers made from tents. The worst of the injured people were airlifted out.

Echoes of 2014 Disaster

Some of the people climbing Everest were returning after abandoning their attempt last year when Everest was hit by a devastating avalanche that killed 16 people, which until recent events was the deadliest avalanche the mountain had ever faced.

Kanchaman Tamang, a Nepali national who was working in the Base Camp for Jagged Globe tour group, found the latest tragedy too much to ever return to,

“I was in the dining tent when the avalanche hit – it sent the tent flying, After last year’s avalanche, I never worried about coming back – I told my family I work at base camp and it’s safe, not like icefall.

“The season is over – the route has been destroyed, icefall ladders broken. I don’t think I will come back next year – this mountain means too much pain.”