Dingri copes with aftermath thanks to rescuers(2)

Shock and fear

When the earthquake struck, Guru Putri was in her home in a village near the epicenter. Her house fell like a pack of cards, but she and her family were lucky to rush out in time.

Some of her neighbors were not so fortunate. And it is that thought of how close she came to death that still frightens her, she told the Southern Weekly.

She said rescuers arrived at the village on Tuesday afternoon and sent the injured to hospital. They also retrieved the body of one of the villagers.

Guru Putri and her family were transferred to the village committee premises, where there is food and water. The wound on her back was attended to and dressed.

Wangyal, 37, said her 76-year-old aunt who lived in a village near the epicenter was killed as she was unable to escape from the second floor of her home on time. Her younger relatives, luckily, managed to cheat death.

The temblor came as a shock to even those who are familiar with the area.

Xi Zhenhua works at the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Mount Qomolangma atmosphere and environment observation station. Having lived in the area for 11 years, Xi is used to earthquakes.

Speaking to Shanghai-based The-Paper.cn, Xi said that he felt a small jolt at 8:12 am on Tuesday and received an alert for a 4.0-magnitude earthquake on his cellphone. He and two of his colleagues chose to ignore the warning and went back to sleep.

At 9:05 am, their living quarters was rocked violently and a phone alert stated the quake magnitude was 6.7. With no time to even put on warm clothes, Xi and his colleagues rushed out of the house covered in their quilts.

Thankfully, winter is not peak season for travel to the Mount Qomolangma base camp. As accommodation services in the scenic area shut in October, only about 500 daily visitors make it to the base camp during this season.

A staffer from the scenic area told The-Paper.cn that there were only a few tourists at the camp when the earthquake struck, forcing the visitors to take shelter in their vehicles.

The scenic area was closed temporarily at 10 am on Tuesday.

Local authorities said all 484 tourists in Dingri county, including 13 foreigners, had been transferred to safe places.