ABC15 – Dr. Dugel Returns from Nepal

PHOENIX – Phoenix Doctor Pravin Dugel was doing eye surgery in Nepal when a second major earthquake hit.

“That didn’t do as much damage physically, but did a lot more damage mentally,” says Dugel.

Today the doctor is seeing patients in his Phoenix office, but it’s hard to forget the images, even the smell.

“There was a smell of death and dead bodies that were still not recovered.”

Nearly 9,000 people are dead and taking care of the injured, hungry and homeless is nearly impossible.

“It’s difficult to describe because there’s no panic, but there’s terrible despair,” says Dugel.

He says entire towns are sleeping outside. There’s nowhere to go and they’re afraid there will be another earthquake. The hardest hit areas are remote areas of Nepal. Some roads are barely drivable.

“They’re the poorest of the poor who absolutely have no access to anything,” says Dugel. “No voices and we’ll never see them. We will never hear from them.”

The doctor plans to go back to Nepal this summer. Monsoon season is also around the corner and most will have no shelter. There’s also a great concern of mudslides.

Copyright 2015 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.