Anxious family awaits contact following earthquake

Richard Curtis and his girlfriend Ali have been travelling in Nepal for nearly two months. Photo / Supplied

A Tauranga family is anxiously waiting to hear from their son and brother who has not been heard from since a devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake ripped through Nepal.

Former Otumoetai College student Richard Curtis, now 27, has been travelling in Nepal with his Australian girlfriend Ali for nearly two months and is understood to have been hiking the Annapurna Circuit when the quake hit.

Richard's family say they last heard from him on April 14 when the pair had returned to Kathmandu after hiking to Everest Base Camp but did not know for certain where they had gone since then.

Richard Curtis and girlfriend Ali

Richard's mother, Jean Grattan, said she hoped her son and Ali had since left Kathmandu so they were away from the collapsing buildings and the "disaster zone" when it hit.

She said the pair had attempted the Annapurna Circuit in March but were evacuated due to heavy snow and avalanches and Mrs Grattan understood they had gone back to try again last week.

"We hope they're okay and they just don't have internet to make contact," she told the Bay of Plenty Times yesterday.

It was now just about waiting for his call, she said.

She did not think he would have registered in Nepal with Safe Travel before he went so he would not be included in their figures.

Richard's younger sister Helen said her brother usually kept in touch through the mobile app Viber in between hiking trips and hoped his lack of contact was just a result of no internet or cellphone reception.

"I'm sure they'll be trying to contact us but it's just a worry that they haven't yet because I'm sure they know we'll be worried."

Until then it was just a slow waiting game, she said. "There's not much we can do."

Richard and Ali are both paramedics so Helen imagined they would be busy helping people in the aftermath.

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The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday confirmed the well-being of just over 100 New Zealanders but the New Zealand High Commission and Honorary Consul in Nepal continued to seek information about any other New Zealanders in the area.

A spokesperson said communication networks had been disrupted by the earthquake which was hampering efforts to contact Kiwis.

Peter Gibbs, a Tauranga-based man who runs the Nepalese Consul Office in New Zealand, said there was a huge lack of communication from rural areas outside Kathmandu.

He had been liaising with a Kiwi woman whose daughter was also on the Annapurna Circuit at the time of the quake and also had not yet been in contact.

He said the circuit would usually have cell reception and internet in places but he expected most towers had been knocked out in the quake.

There was a growing Nepalese community in Tauranga, he said, some who were also still waiting to hear from family.