Nepal Earthquake: 2 Edinburgh residents missing

Two Edinburgh residents earlier reported as missing have been able to contact family and say they are safe and well.

Darren Alexander Smith and Fiona Lamont have made contact with home. Picture: Comp

Darren Alexander Smith, 27, and Fiona Lamont, 26, are stranded in the town of Tal but are unharmed.

Brian Allen, 41, and Seobhan McGuigan, 41 are both still unaccounted for.

The couple were able to contact Fiona’s father Norman this morning, who lives in South Queensferry, by text, and told him it would take another three days to evacuate to the Nepali capital, Kathmandu.

A survivor wanders through the rubble in Bhaktapur following the earthquake. Picture: Getty

Norman, who had been waiting anxiously for news since the quake happened on Saturday, told the Evening News: “They’re in an area that has no telecommunications. I think they borrowed a phone.

“I got just one text, with a warning that they’re going to be out of communication for about three days while they try and get back to Kathmandu.

“But they’re safe and well, which is a huge relief. There’s no more information than that.”

He earlier tweeted: “Hard to describe feelings over 48h.”

An injured woman lies in hospital. Picture: Getty

An aid charity based in the Capital has appealed for donations to help support its emergency response to the disaster.

The country at the foot of the Himalayas was rocked by a magnitude 7.8 quake on Saturday, killing at least 2500 people, levelling homes and triggering avalanches that have claimed the lives of climbers.

Mercy Corps, which has its HQ in Edinburgh, is rushing to provide vital supplies for families made homeless by the disaster, or who are too afraid to return to their houses.

The aid agency is responding to a call from the Nepalese government for blankets, bottled water, clothing and cooking equipment to prepare for an influx of displaced people at 16 camps set up across the quake-hit area, with 20,000 already receiving aid there.

Mercy Corps has more than 100 staff on the ground in Nepal, and is taking donations to its appeal via its website.

Dozens of British tourists and climbers are believed to have been caught up in the disaster. The UK has dispatched an eight-strong humanitarian team to the country.

Two Scottish climbers, including a student from Edinburgh, are confirmed to be safe and have spoken to their families after narrowly escaping being cut off by an avalanche.

Speaking from Kathmandu, 55 miles to the south-east of the quake’s epicentre, Mercy Corps’ Nepal country director Sanjay Karki told the Evening News that children were sheltering as tremors continued to rock the city.

He said: “We already have some aid pre-positioned in the country, and we are currently coordinating distribution with the government here.

“Some people have lost everything. We’ve been experiencing tremors continuously.

“No-one is going inside buildings. They’re in a state of panic because they don’t know when the next big tremor will hit.

“People are gathered in squares and school grounds, as well as spaces set out by the government. You can see children in the streets, or sheltering in tents and makeshift shelters.

“We would ask everyone to support the fundraising initiative launched by Mercy Corps.”

Young climbers Calum Henderson, from Edinburgh, and his friend Joseph Feeney, from Coatbridge, both 21, have been left stranded and are sheltering in a teahouse. The pair are medical students in Aberdeen.

Mr Feeney’s father, Dr James Feeney, said: “The boys have been told they’re really lucky because another couple of days and they would have been further up the mountain and they wouldn’t have got back down. The landslide would have blocked them off. But they’re fine, they’re just a bit shook-up. They’re just wondering how they’re going to get home.”

The two young men were en-route to the Annapurna base camp in the Himalayas when the earthquake hit.

Meanwhile, Harry Potter author JK Rowling said her “heart is in Nepal” after the worst earthquake in more than 80 years hit the country.

The writer, who lives in Edinburgh, was in Kathmandu just four weeks ago with her family.

Yesterday the 49-year-old posted a picture of her trip on Twitter and wrote: “Heart in #Nepal Today. Met wonderful people there four weeks ago. I’m giving to Oxfam, please join me.”

• Donate to Mercy Corps at www.mercycorps.org.uk or by calling 08000 413 060.

LIST OF THOSE MISSING AFTER QUAKE

Here is a full list of British and Irish-born people believed to be missing in Nepal, compiled by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC):

Abdulla Dahab, 20, London

Adam Powell, 45, Great Britain

Alex Murphy, 25, Dublin

Andrew Robertson, 56, England

Ann McNeil, 66, Sussex

Arron Conran, 22, Ireland

Ashrafe Sultana, 31, London

Brian Allen, 41, Edinburgh

Brian Monteith, 22, Glasgow

Callumn Shally, 21, England

Chloe Pincho, 27, England

Ciaran Sands, 55, Ireland

Cliodhna Cork, 21, Dublin

Daniel Thomas Hughes, 36, Wrexham

Darine Flanagan, 22, Galway

Darren Alexander Smith, 27, Edinburgh

Darren Russell, 26, Wrexham

Deniz Csern Oklavek, 48, Luton

Derek Waters, 56, Dartford

Emma Louise Waterton, 37, UK

Emmet Gallagher, 33, Dublin

Evan Mark Williams, 51, Wolverhampton;

Fiona Lamont, 26, Staffordshire

Gary Williams, 52, Plymouth

George Richard Wilson, 69, Manchester

Hayley Saul, 32, Northampton

Heather Chan, 34, Dundee

Heather Stretton, 47, Louth, Lincolnshire

Helen Pounder, 21, Bishop Auckland

Huw Alexander Lashmar, 57, Wales

Ian Wainman, 42, Merseyside

Jack Kilpatrick, 24, England

Jack Young, 21, England

Jacqueline Bushe, 54, Donegal

Jacqueline Toal, 34, Glasgow

Janet Brownlie, 59, UK

Jason Russell, 28 Wrexham

Jonathan Hikmet, 25, UK

Jonathan William Blott, 24, UK

Joseph Ire Sieder, 45, London

Karl Townsend, 43, Liverpool

Kathleen R Fellows, 70, England

Keith Diplock, 71, East Sussex

Laurence Benjamin Gerhardt, 24, UK

Lloyd Davies, 22, UK

Lynda Davis, 50, Scotland

Madelana Ryan, 48, Dublin

Marilyn Ann Harnett, 65, Saffron Walden

Mark Ian Skenerton, 50, Chelmsford

Martin James Edmonds Gattuso, 38, Harborough Magna, Warwickshire

Martin Oppenheim, 65, England

Martin Thomas Donnelly, 34, Stockport

Mary Magdelina Claus, 64, Nuneaton

Matthew Caraport, 23, UK

Matthew David Spruell, 38, London

Matthew Thorne, 36, Stirling

Maurice Hanley, 54, England

Maxwell John Hynes Giusti, 45, London

Mike Russell, 42, Lancashire

Mitchell Carpenter, 23, Aberdeen

Monica Redenham, 63, London

Naomi Everett, 24, Manchester

Niall Kavanagh, 54, Dublin

Nicholas Cooney, 71, Drogheda

Norah Arscott, 77, Somerset

Oliver McKevitt, 24, Northern Ireland

Pat Loughran, 66, Dublin

Philip James Green, 30, London

Rachel McDonald, 26, Kent

Richard Jones, 59, Glasgow

Richard Bannister, 64, England

Ross Cameron Smith, 22, Dumfries

Ruth Millington, 25, UK

Samuel Beckett, 23, Portsmouth

Samuel Luke Bond, 28, Bath

Seobhan McGuigan, 41, Edinburgh

Shaun Bailey, 27, Stoke-on-Trent

Simon Charlesworth, 49, UK

Sinead Nic Cionna, 31, Monaghan

Sonia Downie, 50, London

Sophie Proffitt, 23, Oxford

Stephen Burke, 26, Ruislip

Su Browning, 62, Lambeth

Susan McDonald, 41, Dundee

Susannah Ross, 20, Bath

Terry Tremble, 56, England

Thomas Drumm, 55, Monaghan

Thomas William Southgate, 23, England

Tracy Ruth Powell, 45, UK

Victoria Barkas, 34, United Kingdom