Trekkers survive Nepal quake

Two Thurston friends were safe and heading for a pickup location five hours away

The phone call was quick, and she wasn’t able to provide much information other than the one thing her family and friends had been praying for: She’s alive.

Her family isn’t quite sure how, but recent University of Oregon graduate Amber Brazil was able to call her father, Casey Brazil, owner of American Mattress in Eugene, about 4 a.m. Tuesday from Nepal’s Langtang National Park to let him know that she and best friend Alicia Scroggins had survived Saturday’s 7.8-magnitude earthquake whose death toll has exceeded 5,000.

The young women, both 2011 graduates of Thurston High School in Springfield, had been on a guided trek in the national park since April 20.

Casey Brazil immediately called his ex-wife, Jennifer Brazil, with the good news.

“I couldn’t really believe it, because I was asleep and exhausted,” said Jennifer Brazil, a PeaceHealth educator.

“Somebody let them make one call,” she said, suspecting it was some sort of emergency line provided by the Nepalese Army that is helping evacuate those stranded in the national park.

“They’re probably pretty rattled, because they had to walk past a lot of … destruction,” Jennifer Brazil said. “But I’m so thankful she’s out of there.”

Although the young women didn’t have time to say much about their experience, a report in Tuesday’s Seattle Times would suggest they are lucky to be alive.

“It was a massive shaking,” Seattle’s Greg Davenport told the newspaper about the moment the quake struck. Davenport was celebrating his 50th birthday by hiking in Langtang National Park, about 50 miles north of the quake’s epicenter near Kathmandu.

“All of the walls started to slough off. There were boulders, rockfalls and debris sliding down all over the place. If you were in the wrong place, you would be hit by a boulder and be instantly crushed.”

Davenport, who was speaking from a Kathmandu hotel after being evacuated by helicopter, also told of a post-quake avalanche. “We all looked up the valley. We saw this dark cloud coming our direction. We were all terrified, we thought this was the end.

“The dead zone where the avalanche hit … was probably a kilometer and a half, 2 kilometers above us,” Davenport told The Times. “It decimated Langtang Village. We believe everyone died.

“There were a lot of injuries. Many people who had come down left people who were dead who’d been hiking above. The tragedy was unbelievable.”

Brazil and Scroggins reportedly still had a five-hour trek out of the national park, which covers 660 square miles and hugs Nepal’s northern border with China, to get to where a helicopter could evacuate them.

Jennifer Brazil said her daughter hopes to fly back to Eugene — via New Delhi and Los Angeles — by Monday. Scroggins now lives in Auckland, N.Z.

“We’re so relieved,” said Annie Wood, of Medford, Scroggins’ sister who was in Eugene this week visiting another sister, Katie Casey. “They still have a ways to go to get back to Kathmandu, but we’re just so excited that they’re alive and well.”

Scroggins is the daughter of Bob and Lisa Scroggins of New Zealand, formerly of Springfield, where Bob Scroggins was pastor of Wayside Open Bible Chapel until 2012.

Amber Brazil left Eugene in January for Thailand to finish her UO degree in environmental studies by doing an internship with an elephant rehabilitation sanctuary, according to her mother.

Scroggins went to Thailand about a month ago to visit Brazil, Wood said.

Alicia Scroggins’ Facebook page was filled on Tuesday with posts from elated friends.

“Oh my goodness you are going to laugh at seeing how famous you are,” wrote Anita van der Mespel. “I am so happy we have so many more adventures ahead of us! Still praying as you get to your pick up point.”

Friend Joel Dice posted: “The girls are ALIVE & SAFE!!!!”
Others wrote “Praise God!” and “Thank you God!!”

Jennifer Brazil said she is still concerned because of all the reported landslides and aftershocks in Nepal. “I want to hear (Amber’s) voice for myself and know that she’s good.”

Follow Mark on Twitter @MarkBakerRG . Email [email protected] .


Mark Baker has been a journalist for the past 25 years. He’s currently the sports editor at The Jackson Hole News & Guide in Jackson, Wyo.