North Texas Nepal Earthquake Survivor Preparing To Come Home
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NORTH TEXAS (CBSDFW.COM) - She survived an earthquake and an avalanche, now 22-year old Danielle Banks is days away from coming home to North Texas.
Wednesday evening local doctors and nurses, and even some from Oklahoma, gathered at the Nepali Cultural Center in Irving to prepare for their journey to Katmandu. The health workers will be taking earthquake victims needed medicines, clothes, bug spray and blankets.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, Danielle Banks is anxious to get home. The day before the 7.8 magnitude quake hit, the young lady was all smiles as she made her way up Mount Everest. Then she says she knew something was wrong – but didn't know what. "When it first happened, we were like, 'what is this?'"
The earthquake hit the next day and triggered a deadly avalanche. Thousands of people below the mountain were killed. Banks remembers, "There was no way off the mountain. Landslides and rock slides had completely destroyed the trail."
Banks spoke with CBS 11 News by phone Wednesday morning. She placed the call from the American embassy in Nepal.
When the mountain shook on Sunday Banks sent a quick message to her mother. Her mom said, "She sent me a text and said, 'oh my God - I just experience an avalanche' and that was the last word I heard from her. Then I turned on the news and my heart just sunk."
Banks was on the mountain and very concerned. "[I was] really worried about my mother. I knew I was okay, but I knew my Mom was going to think I'm dead."
Of course banks wasn't dead, but survival still meant a two-day hike down the mountain. She says devastation was everywhere and the aftershocks kept coming. "You could just hear people screaming and running around. So, we looked at each other and followed suit... everyone just ran for open area."
Still, Banks believes she was safer on the mountain than in Katmandu. "There's way less weak infrastructure to come tumbling down. Some people have pretty horrific stories of running from collapsing buildings, because it shook with such force that it just brought the entire building down with a single snap."
Banks will be heading home in a couple of days. She's advising some of the well-intentioned volunteers to stay home. "If you're not trained or skilled in a skill that's needed here, medical disaster relief, your skills aren't needed here, [you will be] just an extra body in the way."
If you'd like to hear Banks' entire interview, you can find it on our Facebook page.
Volunteers are also still collecting donations for the survivors at the Nepali Cultural Center, located at 2016 W. Grauwyler Road, Irving, Texas 75061.
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