Time running out for quake survivors
Time is running out for survivors trapped in the rubble of the Nepal earthquake as the death toll passes 3600.
International rescue teams and relief supplies began arriving in Nepal's devastated capital to help terrified and homeless survivors.
Authorities fear they may not reach anyone trapped beneath the rubble in time to save them.
More West Australian feared dead in the earthquake have been seen alive but one Australian is confirmed dead.
Claire Vanderplank made contact with her mother and sister today and let them know she is safe.
The 33-year-old embarked on a six week trip to Nepal on March 30 and spent some in Kathmandu before beginning her pilgrimage through the Tsum Valley in the Himalayas.
The “Sacred Dance of Thai Massage” trek teaches participants about Thai massage and other healing work including Qi Gong and meditation.
Ms Vanderplank is with the group in Nile, where they have decided to stay and help rebuild the village.
Brooke Okeefe
Brooke Okeefe is understood to be safe and well after her sister made contact with a friend of a friend online.
The 31-year-old who has spent the past two years in the region was spotted by a French Canadian student who Brooke’s sister Jodie was put in contact with.
Her mother Shelley Packard said she is very relieved but if still waiting to hear from her directly.
“It’s good news through a good source,” Ms Packard said.
“I’m just waiting for her to grab a mobile and ring… I would like 100 per cent confirmation.”
Blake Penson
Perth man Blake Penson, 34, called his father Michael from Mount Everest Camp 2 soon after the earthquake erupted.
During the brief call, the 34-year-old assured his mother Cheryl he was OK, but told her there were avalanches all around him.
“He said it was exciting at first because it sounded like thunder and they were all wondering what was happening,” Mrs Penson said.
“They could hear sheets of large ice falling down around them. They were on a flat plateau and the avalanches were dropping down to lower valleys.”
His family held fears for his welfare as the 34-year-old had not made contact since the avalanches, but today he managed to call home.
More than a dozen WA families were last night desperately waiting for news of loved ones.
He contacted his wife and is waiting with other climbers for a helicopter to take him out of base camp.
A facebook message and accompanying happy snap also brought Adam Cleaver’s mother a sense of relief last night.
Mr Cleaver and his girlfriend Kamisha Skye Campbell were completing a five day trek of the Annapurna Circuit when the earthquake hit.
His mother Noelene Cleaver said the pair felt a tremor but did not realise the seriousness of the situation until they descended from their trek.
“We knew that they were going to do a five day trek – we’re a fairly positive family but there’s always that little niggle,” she said.
Ms Cleaver said the duo have been told not to go back to Kathmandu until they need to.
They are scheduled to fly out to Japan on May 1 as they continue their one year travel adventure around the world.
Tanya Kaptein's partner contacted the West Online saying he had been contacted by Tanya saying she, along with fellow West Australians Michael Barry, Greg Kent and his daughter Donna were all "okay".
Greg and Donna had previously been registered as missing by loved ones on a Red Cross website.
The last registered location for 33-year-old Bunbury man Luke Grieve was the Mount Everest base camp.
Angus Caithness, 36, Jalada Wilson, 18, and Anna Barbara Speirs, 25, have also been reported missing by friends and family.
AUSTRALIAN AMONG THE DEAD
Some 200 Australians are believed missing after a devastating 7.8-magnitude earthquake in Nepal on Saturday, followed by a 6.7 magnitude aftershock on Sunday.
Renu Fotedar, 48, was among at least 19 people killed at the Everest base camp.
A Dreamers Destination Trek and Expeditions representative said Ms Fotedar’s body had been recovered and was being taken to the Nepalese capital.
“She’s on the way to Kathmandu right now,” he told AAP from Nepal on Monday. “She’s from Australia.”
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop says more than 830 Australians are confirmed safe, while her department received more than 1400 calls from anxious families and friends.
Up to nine West Australians are registered as missing by loved ones on a Red Cross website.
The Nepal death toll has amplified the fear of families as they wait for news back home in Australia.
More than 3600 have died, buildings have been destroyed, and morgues and hospitals are overflowing in the capital Kathmandu as powerful aftershocks continue and people camp outside in cold and wet conditions.
Ms Bishop’s department has sent a nine-person critical response team to Kathmandu, which will try to trace travellers and provide assistance.
NEPAL QUAKE LATEST
AFTERSHOCK TERROR
WEST AUSTRALIANS STILL MISSING
ENTIRE VILLAGES GONE: AUSTRALIAN SURVIVOR
ALBANY MUM'S RELIEF AS DAUGHTER SURVIVES
NO POWER, COMMUNICATIONS FOR RESCUERS
HUNDREDS OF AUSTRALIANS MISSING
AUSSIE CLIMBER SUSPECTED DEAD
RELIEF AS WA LOVED ONES GET IN TOUCH
KEEP TRYING RELATIVES IN NEPAL: PM
SHELLEY VOIGT
A relative newcomer to hiking and Nepal, Shelly Voigt had become an avid supporter of both since first visiting the country about seven years ago.
Acquaintances of Ms Voigt, from Busselton, yesterday spoke of her passion for Nepal, where she has also become involved in raising funds for a medical clinic in the Annapurna region.
Concerns were held for Ms Voigt after she was last night reported as missing to a register of people affected by Saturday’s devastating earthquake set up by the Red Cross.
World Expeditions chief executive Sue Badyari said Ms Voigt was a regular client of the Sydney-based trekking company but she was not among the eight groups who were in Nepal when the quake struck.
None of the 80 people in the groups had been hurt in the disaster, she said.
Shelley Voigt
Ms Voigt, 54, told The West Australian in 2012 she had helped establish a clinic in an impoverished Hindu village called Ghandruk because she wanted to give back to the Nepalese.
“The more I go there, the more I fall in love with the people,” she said.
“I started thinking about what I could do to make their lives better.”
“I don’t want to just bang my drum and give $500 and say, do this or that.”
MISSING
Torsten Michael d’Scarlett
Anna Barbara Speirs
Jalada Wilson
Luke Grieve
Yesterday, young WA travellers Ballantyne Forder, Callumn Shally and Shannen Wynne were able to get messages to their worried families via social media, saying they were safe.
Michael Rummer, who had also been missing, has reportedly also contacted his family.
The earthquake, the deadliest in Nepal in more than 80 years, struck Kathmandu and the surrounding area about midday on Saturday.
The region is popular with trekkers and adventurous travellers.
Eighteen people were killed and 61 injured at the Mt Everest base camp when the quake triggered an avalanche. In the densely populated capital, it reduced hundreds of buildings to rubble, including office blocks and the landmark nine-storey Dharahara tower.
Terrified locals and tourists spent Saturday night sleeping in the streets and in makeshift tents as aftershocks continued to rock the area.
Nepalese authorities said at least 5838 people had been hurt.
Hospitals overflowed with victims with multiple broken bones and traumatic injuries.
Medics set up tents outside buildings to treat the influx.
ActionAid Nepal country director Bimal Phnuyal said the situation was dire.
"Electricity is out everywhere and the city is in darkness," he said.
"The hospitals are overrun.
"Hundreds of dead bodies are piled up in each of them and thousands of injured people are lined up in the streets waiting for care.
"There simply isn't the capacity to respond to the need.
"Accessing communities in the 21 affected districts is difficult because travel anywhere is almost impossible.
"Roads everywhere have either collapsed or have become incredibly dangerous."
At least 53 people also died in neighbouring India and Chinese state media said 18 people were killed in Tibet.
The avalanche on Mt Everest is the deadliest disaster in the mountain's history and comes almost exactly a year after an avalanche killed 16 Sherpa guides.
Base camp was crowded with foreign mountaineers and their Sherpa teams for the start of the climbing season, when slabs of ice came crashing in.
Several helicopters began evacuating the seriously injured yesterday.
Google executive Dan Fredinburg was confirmed to be among the dead.
Alyssa Azar, 18, who was attempting to become the youngest Australian to climb Mt Everest, was on a climbing exercise when the quake struck and was not hurt.
Sir Edmund Hillary's son Peter is also safe.
He was trekking Mt Everest with a group of New Zealanders.
George Foulsham, a Singapore-based marine biologist, was outside when the avalanche struck and described it as "a white 50-storey building of white coming at me".
"I ran and it just flattened me," he said. "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."
The Federal Government committed $5 million in assistance, half of which will go to Australian non-government organisations.
Others, including the US, China and European Union, have sent disaster response teams.
Nepal's mobile phone network has been working only sporadically and big parts of the capital are without power.
Unable to get in touch by phone, worried Australian relatives inundated social media, with many reporting loved ones missing on the Red Cross' Family Links website.
One of the missing was 24-year-old Sydney business owner Matthew Graves, who was travelling through Pokhara.
"It's a bit of a struggle trying to communicate to everyone," his brother Mitch Graves said.
"It is a waiting game at the moment."
Australian actor Hugh Sheridan took to Twitter to share his fears for his younger brother. "Please. Anyone who is awake, please pray for my little brother Zachary who is on Mt Everest," Sheridan wrote.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has opened its emergency call unit and updated travel advice for Nepal, warning of disruptions to communication, transport and tourist infrastructure in the country.
Red Cross workers on the scene were administering first aid, organising blood supplies for medical centres and providing food, shelter and water.
"It's now a race against time to rescue those trapped under rubble, help the injured and support the survivors," Peter Walton, head of international programs, said.
"We are very concerned for the safety and wellbeing of thousands of people in Nepal and across the region.
"Tragically, more bodies are being pulled from collapsed buildings every hour.
"Communication is down in many areas. Widespread destruction, rubble and landslides are preventing access to provide aid in many villages."
with agencies
