Nepal Disaster Hits Home In New England
BOSTON (CBS) - Imagine trying to escape an avalanche-ravaged portion of Mount Everest with virtually nothing stable to grab onto.
UMass Amherst grad Jim Davidson made it to safety.
"The ropes and the ladders we use to cross hundreds and hundreds of ice blocks, those were all destroyed completely during the earthquake and during the avalanches that happened after the earthquake, so it is good news that with a lot of effort, and a lot of helicopter flights, we got everybody off the mountain," he said in a telephone interview with CNN.
Somerville lawyer Michael MacDonald was also hiking Everest with his wife, who's a doctor. His mother in Brockton was ecstatic to finally hear from them alive.
"It was absolutely horrible," said Marie MacDonald. "I kept trying to tell myself he would be alright, they would be alright, but there's always this gigantic doubt in the back of your mind; what if he isn't? Not everybody's children will come home."
Two Doctors from Massachusetts General Hospital are now working with survivors.
Dr. Renee Salas and Dr. Lara Phillips have been in the area for a couple of months helping patients at needy and remote clinics. Dr. Hilarie Cranmer heads up the hospital's Global Disaster Response team.
"They don't have a lot of medications available. It's a lot of first aid, and a lot of kind of using MacGyver techniques to kind of help those that are suffering."
WBZ-TV's Jim Smith reports
Outside of the climbing and medical communities, countless immigrants from Nepal are worried about family and property back home.
"It will be hard to see that scene when I get back there," said Ram Dhital, who owns the Himalayan Bistro in West Roxbury.
Four of his family's five homes are destroyed. "I want to be there now."