Elderly Calgary couple on vacation in Nepal, struggling through powerful aftershocks

CALGARY – An elderly Calgary couple, on vacation in Nepal, is living in terror after a day and night of earthquake aftershocks.

Here at home, the couple’s family is worried about their health as they now must survive in the area of complete destruction.

Rashmi Dhaubhadel doesn’t know when she’ll see her parents again.

The Calgary couple survived the earthquake but now are struggling through the powerful aftershocks in Nepal.

“I cannot think what is going on in their minds because it’s not just a couple of times it’s many many times and it just keeps coming and now it’s raining and having your dad who cannot move outside in the tent.i I can’t say anything,” Dhaubhadel said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "I cannot think what is going on in their minds because it's not just a couple of times it's many many times and it just keeps coming and now it's raining and having your dad who cannot move outside in the tent.i I can't say anything," Dhaubhadel said.

Rashmi’s father is confined to a wheelchair with Parkinson’s disease.  The family home is now damaged by the  earthquake and is unsafe to be in.

“Without proper washrooms, I cannot imagine. It’s beyond your imagination. The sense of pain, the sense of hopelessness that you feel.”

Rishi Bastakoti’s mother was injured in the quake. She told him that in the community he grew up in, nearly all the houses have collapsed.

“Until now we are safe. I saw one of the small children die instantly in her neighborhood and some of the other people are injured because they want to go away from their home. Some of my neighbors broke their hands and many people are injured.” Bastakoti said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "Until now we are safe. I saw one of the small children die instantly in her neighborhood and some of the other people are injured because they want to go away from their home. Some of my neighbors broke their hands and many people are injured." Bastakoti said.

Prasanna Shrestha from the Calgary Nepalese Community Association says it’s been a challenge speaking to relatives.

Phone conversations are limited because of the lack of electricity to charge phones.

“I managed to contact my brother for only a few seconds because he was so panicked and he just wanted to move to a safer place,” Shrestha said.

Families in Calgary are now coming together to do what they can for relatives in their homeland.

“It’s a very difficult situation for them. They cannot think of the future because right now they are safe but they don’t know what will happen after one minute, two minutes.”

While Rashmi waits for her parents’ return to Calgary, her heart goes out to all those who are left behind.

“It’s a long way for Nepal to go and it’s not even the beginning because the aftershocks are just coming,” Dhaudhadel said. “This is the time to help. We need it right now.”