DR Mike Smith is now in the air headed home and thinking on the luck that saw him the Nepalese earthquake unscathed.

Mike, an ear nose and throat consultant at Hereford County Hospital was coming to the end of a week-long medical camp in a remote area in Rolpa, western Nepal, when the earthquake struck on Saturday.

Due back in the UK tonight  (Tues), Mike came through a devastated Kathmandu where his over-riding memory is of traumatised locals “simply standing around and very frightened.”

By contrast, Pokhara, where Mike has been working, offered only a hairline crack in the wall of a hospital he is helping to build as evidence the quake had occurred.

Even the road out was ok – until it took them to Kathmandu.

Mike is one of the key players behind plans by the International Nepal Fellowship to build an ear hospital and training centre - which is due to be completed this summer.

Speaking to his wife, Fiona, Mike who said the hospital was far enough away from the centre of the earthquake and was not affected other than a hairline crack which had appeared in the plaster work.

“It would appear there is not so much damage in Pokhara and all the members of the team working at the medical camp are alright.

“The team of British medics who were working on this particular camp had already left the country but members of the Nepali team working at the hospital have now gone to Gorkha to help with the recovery effort.

“Fortunately the road between Pokhara and Kathmandu was ok and Mike managed to drive to Kathmandu where he has seen some of the devastation caused by the earthquake,” she said.

In Kathmandu, Mike saw how the force of the quake caused a "tidel wave" that emptied a swimming pool which medical staff use.

“Mike had to sleep on cardboard and there was no running water in the city at that time. He saw many of the buildings that were badly damaged and said many of the local people were simply standing around and very frightened,” said Fiona.

Eventually Mike managed to get into Kathmandu airport where he had to wait for a flight out of the country with so many aircraft arriving with aid.

A flight took him to Delhi from where he caught a connection to the UK to be due back later today (Tues).

Mike is a regular to the remote regions of Nepal, making repeated visits over the past 20 years that mean travelling hundreds of miles to treat  patients, many of them children for whom Mike is the first medical professional they will see.

Nepal has some of least developed health services in the world.

Mike’s  45th visit was featured by the Hereford Times in 2012 when, as lead surgeon, he was to perform delicate ear surgery on at least 100 patients and fit another 120 with hearing aids.

Then Mike spoke of the “overwhelming” hardship he witnessed amongst families who endured to bring their children to the ear camps and the impact the work done in the camps could make.

The experience, he said, was “rewarding and humbling”.