NEPAL

[just mercedes]

My landlady was on a toilet in the Lhasa airport when the quake hit. She was on her way with a group of Australian climbers to go up the North East side of Everest. She said she thought a jet had smashed into the terminal - the roar, then the shaking, and things falling and smashing. The climb of course was cancelled and her trip out became surreal, with China bitching about emergency landings without a visa etc etc when finally the flight was allowed to leave Lhasa but was diverted to ShangDu. (spelling?)

We're all lucky to be alive.