Meet the couple who got caught up in an earthquake and then stayed on to help the rescue effort
When Judith and Simon Hall went to Nepal, they were not only caught up in a terrifying natural disaster, but played a vital role in the rescue effort
Hurtling around a hairpin bend on a bus in rural Nepal, Judith Hill and her husband, Simon, felt a rush of fear, but that was nothing compared to what lay ahead.
A retired dairy farmer, Simon was keen to share his skills and signed up for a two-year volunteer placement in Nepal, while Judith, a retired school teacher, decided to accompany him there.
When they left their home in Somerset and their five children, three grandchildren and border collie, Meg, they had no idea what to expect. They had never volunteered abroad before and were looking forward to the challenge.
With rucksacks full of camping gear and other essentials, including two big blue plastic barrels to store food in – and keep rats out – they set off in June 2014 on the trip of a lifetime.
Based in the town of Besishahar in the mountainous district of Lamjung, the first thing to hit them was the heat. Thinking they were going to be on higher ground where it was freezing, they’d packed all their thermals and found themselves sweltering in 40˚C heat.
‘We had been warned to be ready for the unexpected and found a little apartment,’ says Judith. ‘We arrived pre-monsoon so it was hot, wet and humid. We had frequent power cuts and no hot water, so there were lots of cold showers, but we’re farmers and fairly down-to-earth so we coped and didn’t think about it.’
With spectacular views and a warm welcome, they soon settled into their new way of life. Judith worked on a project encouraging girls to stay in education, while Simon developed a programme to help improve the quality of milk production.
Then in April 2015, Nepal was hit by an absolutely devastating earthquake.
‘It was just before midday, I was in the kitchen washing some lettuce for lunch,’ recalls Judith. ‘Suddenly there was a huge noise and the ground began to shake. The doors and windows were rattling, the whole building was shaking, it was terrifying. I was on my own so tried to stay calm, looking for somewhere to hide. I looked at the tiny plastic kitchen table and thought, “that’s no good”. So I grabbed my phone and ran outside to join people on the street. Even there I didn’t feel safe because there were so many overhanging wires.’
Just 25km from the epicentre, the shaking lasted for nearly a minute, but Judith’s biggest worry was Simon, on a training course 50km away.
‘Luckily our phones still worked and within half an hour, I got a call from him saying he was safe, it was such
‘We felt we were doing something useful and wanted to stay’
a huge relief,’ she says.
Simon had been on the sixth floor of a hotel when the windows had blown through. Desperate to get back to Judith, he managed to board a bus and travelled through the aftershocks, passing roads strewn with landslides and crushed lorries. They were reunited 24 hours later.
A magnitude 7.8, the earthquake killed more than 8,000 people and injured more than 22,000.
Simon and Judith’s apartment had visible cracks
and they had to move into temporary accommodation.
The following day, Judith and Simon walked to a nearby village and asked if there was anything they could do. As Simon had a camera, they were asked if they could walk to some of the other villages to take photographs and report back to the disaster coordination committee. They walked all day, taking photos and recording the damage.
‘Seeing people in distress, sitting outside their homes looking lost was very hard,’ says Judith. ‘We were on a hillside in the pouring rain when we got a phone call saying we could be evacuated. We hadn’t thought about going home. We couldn’t do much, but we felt we were doing something useful and wanted to stay.’
After reporting back to the rescue teams on where food, shelter and medicine was needed most, they spent the next five days walking to some of the worst-hit villages further up the mountains.
The furthest was a couple of miles from the epicentre and people crowded around them wanting to show them the damage to their homes.
‘We saw one house where a lady had broken both her legs,’ says Judith. ‘It was difficult because we had nothing to give and had to communicate that we were just there to take photographs and that the emergency teams would soon be on their way. It was amazing how people were coping, they were so resilient and patient, waiting for help. They’d lost their homes and livelihoods, yet wanted to look after us, one lady was horrified she couldn’t offer us a cup of tea. It was harrowing having to leave. It’s difficult to know what to say in a situation like that. Although they live in a place prone to earthquakes, none of them had experienced anything like that in their lifetimes. Some people didn’t even know what it was.’
Walking for 12 hours a day in the heat with little water was exhausting, but Judith and Simon pushed on, determined to reach as many villages as possible.
Surviving on dried noodles and biscuits, they had no accommodation and slept on the floor of a school one night, in a barn the next.
Even though they could hear wild hyenas at night and encountered a 7ft cobra during one walk, wildlife was the last thing on their minds.
Over the next six months, Judith and Simon played a key role in the clean-up effort. Judith helped to rebuild classrooms and get children back into school, while raising awareness of women’s health. Simon worked in Kathmandu where the programme he’d developed was rolled out to 7,000 farmers.
After two extraordinary years, they returned to the UK and were presented with an award by VSO for their incredible efforts and work.
While they’re currently enjoying a quieter life, they haven’t ruled out another trip. ‘We are keeping an open mind,’ says Judith. ‘Never say never!’