Oldham trio relive quake horror

Andrew Taylor

A RETIRED doctor has described the terrifying moment he and two fellow members of the Oldham Mountain Rescue team were caught up the devastating Nepal earthquake that has so far claimed over 4,300 lives.

Dr Andrew Taylor, from Grasscroft, was with colleagues Denzil Broadbent and David Wyatt, from Uppermill in Kathmandu when the quake struck the Nepalese capital. They were returning from a medical expedition for their flight home.

Dr Taylor said: “The main shock struck when I was walking back to the hotel about noon. The road moved sideways and I staggered, then it moved up and down and made it impossible to walk. Parked motorcycles fell over and debris fell from rooftops. People ran from buildings screaming.

“Most people immediately found open ground and looked upwards at teetering buildings, water towers and telegraph posts — all potential hazards.

“For more than four hours we felt aftershocks. Fortunately we all escaped unscathed, but some in the hotel experienced very frightening building movement.

“Our area of Kathmandu fared better than many. A nearby hotel collapsed and injured more than 40 people and a nine-storey monument collapsed, reputedly killing up to 180 people.

“Patchy areas of shoddy buildings collapsed, but the surprise was how many very unsafe structures survived.”

On Sunday the British Embassy recommended evacuation to a Gurkha Transit Camp for safety, as more shocks and storms were expected.

Dr Taylor added: “We were not in a position to help. We had given away all our medical equipment to local health facilities. But all of us dealt with and helped the injured we came across.”

The team touched down in Manchester yesterday.

“Absolute confusion and chaos reigned in departures,” said Dr Taylor. “We were lucky to get boarding passes after three hours of queuing and seats after another seven hours.”