Her own family and friends are OK but her home country is devastated, so Nepalese chef and guest-house owner Dolma Sherpa is holding a fundraiser on Friday night.
Dolma and her husband, Tony Parr, run Norwood Mountains Lodge in Blackheath. They will host a buffet dinner for $45 a head, with all proceeds going to Medecins Sans Frontieres to help the victims of the earthquake.
While Ms Sherpa's own kin are fine, all around them is massive destruction.
"They need a lot of help at the moment," she said. "Some remote areas they haven't even got there yet. It's really, really bad."
After the earthquake hit on Anzac Day, Ms Sherpa rushed to contact her family, including her father, a Buddhist monk, and many cousins, some of whom live in the capital, Kathmandu, and others in villages across the country. And even after the initial calls which confirmed they were OK, she kept ringing.
"I was contacting them almost every day because of the aftershocks," she said.
"All my family and friends are fine. It was very lucky it was in the afternoon. If it was in the evening it would have been worse."
Ms Sherpa, a former mountain guide, met her Australian husband, Tony, 20 years ago. Mr Parr was living in Hazelbrook at the time. They later moved to Kathmandu with their son, Phintso, running a trekking agency for a decade. But a downturn in tourist numbers because of the Maoist uprising in the country forced them to move away.
Eventually, they found Norwood in Blackheath two years ago.
Mr Parr said after they heard about the earthquake they spent the weekend "panicking until about mid-afternoon on Sunday", when they were finally able to make contact with Nepal.
Mr Parr said conditions in the country now were horrendous.
"So many people are living in the open but we are just approaching the monsoon season. The next concern is that there will be epidemics of disease break out," he said.
Pointing out that many of the main tourist sites in Kathmandu had been destroyed, Mr Parr said: "It will be years before it gets back on its feet."
Friday's buffet dinner will also include an auction of various items. Cash payments are preferred to credit card or Eftpos to avoid unnecessary bank fees. For details phone 4787 8478.
n Author Gerry Virtue will launch his new book, Kathmandu the Novel, Book Two, in Blackheath on Saturday week to raise funds for Nepal. All the proceeds from the sales of the novel, along with proceeds from raffles and refreshments, will be split between Oxfam and the Nepal Villagers' Earthquake Fund, an NGO with local knowledge and expertise, especially of the earthquake epicentre around the Langtang and Gorkha regions. The event will be in the Bates Hall of the community centre at 5.30pm on Saturday, May 16. Inquiries call Mr Virtue on 0406 196 465.
