Local quake survivors

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The death toll continues to rise after Saturday’s earthquake, with more than 4 000 people dead and officials fear things will only get worse.

Foreign affairs says there are 462 Canadians registered as being in Nepal, but that’s only an estimate, because registration is voluntary. We do know a few of them are from Hamilton and one is the grand-daughter of the late Lincoln Alexander.

When they arrived in Nepal, longtime Hamilton friends Erika Alexander, Ashley Short and Tijen Yalchin posted photos of the clinic outside Kathmandu where they were supposed to spend 3 weeks delivering naturopathic treatments to locals, as part of a course they’re all taking in Toronto.

Keith Alexander says it takes a lot to make his 32-year-old daughter cry. When he heard her on the phone, he knew how hard the disaster had struck. “She was pretty upset, she was crying. They were on their way to a monastery museum, popular place, and they were half an hour from reaching it when the road broke open. It threw their truck into a ditch.”

And it was lucky timing, the museum they were headed to is now rubble. The rainy season has begun and he worries whether his daughter has enough clothing and money. The flight home on Sunday seems far away.

Communication is difficult, cell phones are dying and there’s no way to charge them but the travel agent friend spoke with one of the women this afternoon. She says Erika is sleeping inside for the first time tonight, her friends are still camping outside, but they haven’t felt any aftershocks since yesterday.