Medical Team in Nepal When 7.3M Quake Struck Describes Chaos

A 7.3 magnitude quake struck Nepal Tuesday, more than two weeks after a devastating temblor killed thousands

Relief workers in Nepal after April’s devastating earthquake say the relief effort was chaotic in the moments after Tuesday’s powerful earthquake and aftershocks.

The magnitude-7.3 quake hit hardest in remote mountain districts northeast of the capital Kathmandu.

Forty-two people died and more than 1,100 people have been injured, according to Nepal's Home Ministry.

A team of medical experts from San Diego were in Nepal when the quake struck at 12:50 a.m. PT. They were there as part of the international relief effort to help the country cope with the devastation from the April 25 quake.

One team was at the Dhading Medical Center northwest of the nation's capital. They were able to exit their building and were safe. A second team in the field reported back that they were uninjured, Scripps officials said.

"We have moved out of the hotel and set up our tents in a field up the street from where we store our supplies," team member Patty Skoglund wrote.

Skoglund and her colleagues on two Scripps Health Medical Response Teams are on standby, waiting to be called to local hospitals to deliver medical aid.

"We have not been called to the hospital yet as it is still chaos so they want to assess first the need," Skoglund added.

"All is well as we wait to help," she wrote.

Locals working with Restore International sent a team to support its orphanage and surrounding residents.

Eleven volunteers were delivering supplies to a remote area when their car started swaying back and forth.

They got out of the car and tried to get to an open area.

For several hours after, they say they felt aftershocks.

The group eventually hiked to their destination and left rice, oil and tents.

On the three-hour drive back to Kathmandu they encountered landslide and other debris.

An official with the International Organization for Migration told the Associated Press that at least four people died and a number of buildings collapsed in the isolated town of Chautara.

IOM spokesman Paul Dillon says a search and rescue team has already begun searching through the wreckage of the small town.

Chautara has become a hub for humanitarian aid, with dozens of aid workers now based there to send help deeper into the countryside.

Officials and aid workers expect today's death toll to rise.

Tuesday’s earthquake was centered near Mount Everest and was deeper than the April quake. Nepal lost more than 8,000 people and entire villages.
 

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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