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Footage emerges of Nepal quake, Everest avalanche

Video of the devastation wrought by a major earthquake on Kathmandu and resulting avalanche at Mount Everest base camp have begun to trickle on to YouTube.

Eric Mack Contributing Editor
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Eric Mack
2 min read

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Kathmandu as seen by a drone. Screenshot by Eric Mack/CNET

The images and mounting death toll coming out of Nepal since a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck near the capital of Kathmandu on Saturday have been sobering. But to really grasp the shock and devastation left by the quake in the city and in nearby base camp by Mount Everest, which was hit by an avalanche triggered by the temblor, the videos that are beginning to trickle on to YouTube provide some perspective.

Google engineer Dan Fredinburg was among the at least 17 climbers killed in the avalanche. A video posted to the YouTube account of German climber Jost Kobusch captures the terrifying moment that the snowslide moved across the base camp.

In the clip below (language NSFW, both in English and German), which already has over 11 million views, climbers are heard remarking that the ground was shaking and then seen running from a massive cloud of snow that sweeps across the camp. The person filming and a companion appear to huddle behind a tent. While coated in snow afterward, they don't seem to have taken the brunt of the avalanche and are okay.

Footage from Kathmandu, closer to the epicenter of the earthquake also emerged Monday when Kishor Rana began posting videos shot by flying a drone over the sprawling city on Facebook. Unfortunately, the below video speaks for itself.

If you'd like to learn more about how to help the people of Nepal or to check the status of people in the region, Google, Apple and Facebook are all pitching in, as CNET reported earlier.