A nurse from Kingston has described how teams of volunteers in Nepal are using car parks as makeshift emergency wards to treat victims of last month's fatal earthquake.

Alice Egerton-Smith, of Burton Road, said she had helped provide first aid and health education in the Kathmandu valley after the 7.8 magnitude quake, which killed more than 7,000 people in the Himalayan country.

She said: "We treated everyone. Young, old, all fractures and wounds. The emergency ward was overrun so it took up three wards and people [were] in tents in the car park too.

"There were people with broken limbs waiting three days to have them set with no anaesthetic.

"I was working on the emergency part in the car park tents doing blood pressure and wound care, and trying to prioritise the most severe patients - but obviously everyone was a priority."

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Pic: Alice Egerton-Smith

The former Royal Marsden nurse, 30, was already in Nepal when the earthquake struck as part of a team from the nurse.teach.reach organisation.

Based at BP Koirala Memorial Hospital in Bharatpur, in the Chitwan district, she was away from the worst of the damage, as were colleagues visiting from the capital, Kathmandu.

Miss Egerton-Smith added: "Although the experience was very frightening, myself and my colleagues were all safe and together.

"We decided to abandon the last week of the voluntary programme we were on, in light of the humanitarian crisis, and returned to Kathmandu to work in the teaching hospital emergency room.

"We were able to help immediately, unlike some of the bigger NGOs who were delayed in delivering aid, as they were all held up as the airport was closed."

Miss Egerton-Smith, who studied at Richmond College, left home at the start of April on an 18-month posting with nurse.teach.reach to gain more experience.

The non-governmental organisation trains nurses in developing countries after they are registered, offering professional development it said allows them to mentor their junior colleagues.