"The huge thing that you see and hear from children and their families is just how afraid they are - it is absolutely enormous the emotional toll they have had to go through since the earthquake and the subsequent aftershocks."
Ms Foley said the devastated country continued to be rocked throughout the night by tremors.
"Last night there were two aftershocks during the night and even for those who had managed to get to sleep, everyone was woken up and they were very afraid. People are anxious and upset.
"You hear a massive jolt and you think of the people who are sitting out in the open. The fear is huge."
Mr Foley described the moment the quake hit as one of confusion and terror.
"For a split second, you don't really know what is happening. The alarm went off and the whole building started shaking from side to side and everyone just jumped under the table.
"You could see everyone just moving and trying to protect themselves from falling debris and as soon as we could, we all just went outside. People were just pouring outside trying to get to safety."
She said she met a woman outside who told her how "her heart was absolutely racing and she was so afraid for her child".
Further information on the state of outlying villages was expected to trickle in, Ms Foley said. There are 45 New Zealanders currently registered on Safe Travel as being in Nepal.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it was in the process of contacting New Zealanders there but were facing difficulties with communication lines.
"Communications remain intermittent in Nepal, and operating conditions are difficult. It may be some time before all New Zealanders can be contacted."
New Zealand Nepal Society president Uddhav Adhikary said the damage in Kathmandu has been relatively minimal, but remote villages had suffered.
"We are not sure what is happening in the rural areas but we will know maybe by tomorrow. Some of the places are very hard to get to."
Mr Adhikary said the second earthquake had been a highly traumatic experience for the people of Nepal.
"People are frightened and traumatised. They were just getting back to normal life after two weeks and the shops were starting to open and everything was getting settled, but now that are more frightened."
The New Zealand Red Cross said a initial assessments indicated hundreds of homes had collapsed, many of which had already been damaged by the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck two weeks ago.
"Regions already struggling to cope with the effects of the earlier earthquake were hit hard."
The impending monsoon season in a few weeks was a major concern, Ms Foley said.
"We need to make sure that all children and their families have a very secure place to stay and that they also have sanitation and health supplies to cut the risk of disease which obviously goes up when the heavy rains are coming."
To Donate:
• World Vision: Nepal Earthquake Appeal visit worldvision.org.nz or 0800 90 5000
• Unicef: Visit unicef.org.nz/nepal or call 0800 243 575
• Oxfam: Visit oxfam.org.nz or call 0800 600 700
• Red Cross: Visit redcross.org.nz or call 0800 RED CROSS (0800 733 276)
• ChildFund New Zealand: Visit childfund.org.nz/Nepal-Earthquake-Appeal or call 0800 808 822
• Orphans Aid International. Visit www.orphansaidinternational.org or call 0800 ORPHAN
• Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand: Visit caritas.org.nz or call 0900 4 11 11
• New Zealand Nepal Society: Donations can be made to bank account number 01-0142-0053378-00
• Himalayan Trust Rebuild Appeal: Visit givealittle.co.nz/cause/nepalearthquake
• TEAR Fund: Visit tearfund.org.nz or call 0800 800 777
Save the Children: Visit savethechildren.co.nz or call 0800 167 168
International Nepal Fellowship: Visit inf.org/earthquake-appeal-new-zealand
Habitat for Humanity New Zealand: Visit www.habitat.org.nz/donate
The Leprosy Mission New Zealand: Visit leprosymission.org.nz/nepal or 0800 862 873
MEND: Visit mend.org.nz
