Earthquake-stricken Nepal is getting help from Bermuda via the global non-profit Adara Group but needs run high, according to group founder Audette Exel.

“The scale of the catastrophe cannot be appreciated until you see it,” Ms Exel told The Royal Gazette from Kathmandu.

She rushed to the Nepalese capital as soon as she could after last month’s double earthquake killed close to 10,000 people.

“They have many decades ahead to get back on their feet,” she said. “But, at the same time, I have been so very moved by the strength and courage of the Nepali people. It’s mind-boggling.”

The Australian-based non-profit group Adara, which has an office in Bermuda and has a 17-year record of helping Nepalese communities, is capably equipped to assist in the country’s worst disaster for 80 years.

However, the devastation is widespread and the arrival of relief has been painstakingly slow for much of the country.

There were more deaths yesterday when another powerful earthquake and a series of intense aftershocks shook the north close to Mount Everest.

Ms Exel and other volunteers work from Adara’s office on the outskirts of the city, but they camp on the lawn because it is unsafe to stay indoors. Nepal’s terrain has continued to rumble almost unabated since the first earthquake on April 25. “The ground is still shaking,” Ms Exel said.

“We had four major aftershocks on Sunday.”

Damage has been eerily selective across a landscape ranging from mountainside to valley, and from isolated villages to the teeming mosaic of Kathmandu’s neighbourhoods.

“Some areas are not untouched but still functioning, while there are areas an hour or hour and a half’s drive away that have been completely and utterly destroyed,” Ms Exel said. “There is a broad spectrum of damage. You have all these old buildings constructed without any building codes, and brick and stone walls that killed a lot of people when they collapsed.”

With the rainy season creeping in, some people have begun to take shelter in the structures left standing. Doors are left open so that those inside can flee when an aftershock hits.

“Now that we have the monsoons coming, this is going to move into the public health emergency phase quickly,” Ms Exel said.

Adara has been helping to furnish the countless people left homeless with basic shelter from the elements.

About 4.2 million people have been affected across a region that Ms Exel first got to know as a trekker in the 1980s.

Like many visitors, she fell in love with Nepal — and ultimately returned with “a very big dream of doing work with people in extreme poverty”.

She said yesterday: “The only good news is that our team and the children we have rescued are all safe. We are very well equipped to help people in need; these teams are awe-inspiring.” She has been sleeping outside the office with about 20 of Adara’s rescued children and the staff.

Meanwhile, child advocate Pralhad Dhakal has been leading relief efforts under the mantra “We are safe, so now we must save others”. Ms Exel said his example had proved to be galvanising for the rest of the team. We were one of the first teams in Kathmandu, three days after the earthquake,” she said. “It’s really because of his leadership. I have never been so uplifted by the human spirit as I have been working with the Nepali team over the last ten days.”

The school built by Adara is “clearly not safe”, she added, and locals speak of buildings that remain standing but which are “softened”. Decades of recovery work lie ahead.

“We’ve got years of rebuilding ahead of us,” Ms Exel said. “I am leaving soon but I am back and forward to Nepal all the time. The next step will be for Pralhad and the team to decide on the plan ahead.”

Part of the non-profit’s work has been to fight against child trafficking, and the problem has flourished even as the region struggles to regain its footing.

“When people are at their most vulnerable, that’s when predators strike,” she said. “In this situation, you see the magnificence of people, but you also see the incredible darkness in people taking advantage of those who are vulnerable.” Adara Group is urgently calling for donations, she added. “This is a very complex recovery process,” she said. “Working with the right organisation really does matter.”

• To make a donation, see the website www.adaragroup.org or contact Pamela Barit Nolan, development manager at Adara Development (Bermuda), at 279-2107.