Camarillo Dentist Who Survived Quake In Nepal Back Home -- Even If His Heart Is Elsewhere
CAMARILLO (CBSLA.com) — Dr. Mark Lisagor of Camarillo is happy to be home.
He was leading a team of 14 dentists in Nepal -- volunteering to help children -- when the devastating 7.8 earthquake hit.
Lisagor took cellphone video of the region moments after the quake hit. You can see the panic of people in the streets.
He is home but his heart and mind are clearly back on the region and the people.
Lisagor recently spoke to CBS2's Laurie Perez.
"Everything was crashing and chandeliers were swaying and everyone in the clinic was really making a beeline for the door to get out of the building," Lisagor said.
He was working with the group Global Dental Relief -- they care for hundreds of children around the world who would normally have no access to dentist care.
The group had arrived just hours before the quake struck. The death toll is at 7,000 and climbing.
Lisagor and the other dentists spent the next few days comforting the many children who had to face the reality of losing loved ones, homes, their entire way of life.
"Some of them 5, 6, 7 years old," he said, "Little by little, word is getting to them about what's happening back in their valleys."
Lisagor documented a lot of what happened on cellphone video but candidly acknowledges it's not like he needs the video to relive what he saw.
He's a different man than he was -- just a week ago.
Lisagor had been to Nepal 16 times to volunteer and says he will go back again - soon.
"There's not enough food and not enough water and I just, getting on that plane to come back to this nice comfortable life, God, that just doesn't feel right," he said.