Mothers find solace close-by

STAYING PUT: Martyn Ouseley (right) was in Pokhara, Nepal, when the 7.8 magnitude quake hit.PHOTO/SUPPLIED

In a quiet Havelock North street, two mothers feared for the lives of their children in Nepal.

Unbeknown to Marion Ouseley, who picked up the phone after reading a story of Carol Waghorn's daughter Soraya Gillbanks in Hawke's Bay Today, the two lived just a few houses apart.

"She called me right after she saw the paper, she looked up my phone number and was blown away when she found we lived in the same street," Ms Waghorn said.

While Soraya was in the thick of the 7.8 magnitude quake in Kathmandu, Mrs Ouseley's son, Martyn, 42, was just 145km northwest of the capital in Pokhara, an area less frequented by tourists.

When the ground began to shake about 11.45am local time on Saturday, he was thankful he chose to meet friends there instead of in the bustling centre of Kathmandu.

"I was in my five-story hotel when the quake hit, at first I thought a generator had been fired up as that's what it sounded like, but then the walls started trembling and the Nepalese women and girls started screaming," Mr Ouseley said.

"I ran out of the hotel via a garden that was between my hotel and another huge hotel under construction. When I got to the road all I could do was watch the buildings tremble and rock, but here in Pokhara by a miracle none came down except for a couple of older buildings, causing a couple of fatalities."

The road was heaving before his eyes "like a swell on the ocean" and the shaking got stronger before it subsided.

Several large aftershocks continued throughout the day.

Many slept out in the open in tents on the nights that followed, but, four days after the initial shock, life returned to "normal".

"[It's] like nothing happened, power, phones, net is up, banks, restaurants all open and running," he said. "Many tourists are fundraising and sending supplies to hard-hit areas. Nepal now needs massive help from all countries that can give it."

Mr Ouseley planned to stay put for now as he was in no immediate danger.

Elsewhere, people mourned the death of loved ones as the official death toll reached 6200, with more than 13,000 injured and a total of eight million people affected.