Utter Devastation: ORU Graduate Describes Nepal Earthquake Aftermath

Several foreigners, including Americans, are still missing in Nepal, but one Oral Roberts University graduate is safely back in the U.S. 

Scott Rains is a missionary who was preaching in a Kathmandu church when the 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit on April 25. 

He lives in Arizona now and I spoke with him on Skype.

"Myself and the pastor were the only ones standing at the time, and it became so violent so quick that it knocked both of us off of our feet. We landed on our side. The pulpit fell over. Everything in the church fell over and the entire room just shook violently," said Scott Rains.

Rains says the shaking went on for several minutes, but the building his church was in, was still standing when the shaking stopped. Once he and the congregation made it outside he saw buildings flattened all around them and rescuers pulling people out of the rubble. 

Scott Rains described the chaos and destruction he saw.

"There was dust and debris and just utter devastation everywhere. People were just running and screaming and there was a tremendous amount of fear," said Scott Rains. 

It took him six agonizing hours but Rains said he was finally able to borrow a phone and call his wife Carol, also an ORU graduate, to let her know he was alive.

Over the next several hours, the military blocked off and re-opened the neighborhood he was in. While waiting, he experienced a 6.8 magnitude aftershock, but somehow made it to the Kathmandu airport. 

"The airport was just unbelievable. There was just tens of thousands of people. They were sleeping on the grass, they were lined up outside. All the way out the gate, all the way down the street," said Scott Rains. 

Rains said miraculously he made it to the front of the line and because his flight hadn't left yet an armed guard let him in. In the end, his flight was only delayed two hours but early on Monday, April 27, Rains flew out of Kathmandu. 

As the cleanup continues in one of the poorest countries in the world, Rains hopes people in the United States will help anyway they can.

"They already have so much hardship already, and it's just sad. It's just sad to see that such wonderful people would have to go through even more suffering," said Scott Rains. 

This was his first trip to Nepal, but Scott Rains says it be won't his last.