Nepal earthquake: 'It is chaos, chaos,' says photographer from the midst of a nation in ruin

As the death toll continues to rise, Omar Havana describes the scene of the country he has come to call home

(Omar Havana/Getty)

A Spanish photographer living and working in Nepal at the time of the worst earthquake to strike the country in more than 80 years has spoken of the devastation around him.

“It is chaos, total chaos,” Getty photographer Omar Havana told The Independent over the phone from his hotel in Kathmandu.

Mr Havana, originally from Spain, had moved to Nepal in October 2014 and was living with his girlfriend when the 7.8 earthquake struck on Saturday. “This disaster is affecting me personally,” he said.

“What you are going to see is fear, people are panicking - still no one wants to go back to their homes,” he said. “There are so many rumours on social media that a big earthquake is going to strike.”

Nepal is buckling under the severity of the quake on Saturday with the number of dead continuing to rise. Earlier today the Prime Minster Sushil Koirala announced three days of mourning for the victims – even as survivors’ anger mounted over the government’s perceived inability to help.

Over the phone, working briefly despite the electricity failing, the 39-year-old photographer said: “Today was the first day when I went out and people were asking me questions like: Can you give me food? Can you give me water? But I can do nothing – we are lucky if we get a meal a day – I am in the same situation as these people.”

He claimed that although the government was doing “fantastic work,” the quake was too large and the preparations incomplete.

“It is just not enough. We need more,” he said.

Working over the past few days photographing the camps and the outlying villages near Kathmandu Mr Havana says the worst is yet to come. “This disaster is really going to be when we start to go to the remote areas, areas like Gorkha”.

He estimated that the death toll, presently at 5,000 with thousands more injured, could “double” as more people are transported to already struggling hospitals in the capital.

International aid has started trickling into Nepal. India, China, the US and the UK have all pledged to send teams and equipment with some starting to arrive in the wrecked country today.

Even with this help, the situation for many was dire. “The magnitude of the disaster is huge. It is huge.”

“There are only 5,000 tents so people are using polythene and plastic covers and even umbrellas. But what they need urgently is 600,000 tents: it is raining every day and the situation is only going to get worse,” he said. “We have 5000 tents but we are speaking about 8 million people who need help.”

But he said the atmosphere in Kathmandu particularly was “something else,” describing how the entire country “had become a family”.

“Everyone is helping,” he said. “From engineers doing bandages in hospital to students digging. I think it is hard in Nepal to feel that you are alone and especially at the moment.

“It is beautiful – even though beautiful is not the word – it is something that makes you feel like you are a human being again.”