Nepal Earthquake: Stories of Hope as Perth Couple Survive Tremblor in Shaking Hotel

Geoff Roberts and his wife, Sue, are sure one lucky couple able to survive and share their story after the 7.8-magnitude quake that struck Nepal. On Tuesday, the death toll of Saturday's earthquake in Nepal has reached over 4,000. The Nepalese prime minister feared it could reach 10,000.

The Roberts couple was staying on the third floor of the Radisson Hotel in Kathmandu. They had just come back from a 10-day trek around Nepal and resting, when the earthquake began to shook the ground.

"Run!" was all Geoff managed to yell at Sue. "It was just horrendous. The whole building just shook and we just ran out of the building as fast as we could," Mrs. Roberts told Fairfax Media.

As they darted through the kitchen, they saw cracks slicing through the building. Things were flying everywhere, the couple said. As things slowly settled, they saw how the quake destroyed the older side of Kathmandu.

Having gathered their wits, the Perth couple worked their way to get to the airport. When they arrived at Kathmandu airport, they saw an ocean of people desperate to leave Nepal. "It was chaos," Sue said.

The couple, lucky to be alive and unharmed, arrived in Perth on Monday. “We were fortunate, because we already had our flights booked."

Another story of hope is the arrival back home of 63-year-old Yvonne Renshaw who personally saw how houses in Kathmandu were razed to the ground by the huge earthquake. "There were houses all around - then they were just gone."

She mentioned of a hill in front of her, “that looked like it had been pressed from the top and it just disappeared.”

Some 20 minutes after the quake hit, she said screams were heard from the orphanage where she works as a volunteer. They were trapped under the rubble. She said people used their hands to dig the people out. "They pulled out four people who were alive, who must have been in there for 45 minutes."

Now back in Mundaring after excruciatingly waiting for 30 long hours at Kathmandu airport just to get a flight back home, she said she has a mix of emotions. "I feel relieved, but guilty for leaving the kids at the orphanage without food or water."

Meanwhile, a statement from the office of Foreign Minister Julie Bishop announced the government will be sending military aircraft to Nepal to help Australians trapped in Nepal get home. "The timing and frequency of the flights will be subject to capacity constraints at Kathmandu airport and approval by the Nepalese Government," it said.

Once details of the military flights are known, DFAT [Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade] will advise of the process for Australians to register their interest. “Highly vulnerable Australians will be given priority."

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