FORMER nurse Angela Rowlands is back home and lucky to be alive after getting caught up in the Nepal earthquake.

Mum-of-two Mrs Rowlands flew out to the impoverished Himalayan country for an adventure trek to raise money for leukaemia research.

But she was lucky to make it back home to Cholsey, near Wallingford, after the 7.8 magnitude quake reduced buildings around the restaurant where she was dining to rubble.

The death toll has since risen to more than 7,000 people and aid agencies including Oxford-based Oxfam are working to get help to the region.

Mrs Rowlands, 48, flew to Kathmandu a day before the quake hit on April 25, and then flew on to Pokhara to start her trek through the Annapurna region.

She and fellow trekkers on the 10-day trip, run by Global Adventures, were in a restaurant in the village of Birethanti when the quake hit.

Mrs Rowlands, who works as a senior lecturer at Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, said: “We were in a roof-terrace restaurant and ordered lunch when the building started to shake.

“People started screaming and we were told to get out.

“The building next to us was three or four storeys high and it collapsed to the floor.

“I think local people were hurt in the building next to us – it was chaotic and I feel lucky to be alive.

“There were also aftershocks in our lodge in the middle of the night which was very scary.”

Mrs Rowlands, who lives with husband John, 50, a firefighter, and sons Thomas, 18, and Ben, 16, in Honey Lane, said she continued her trek around the Annapurna region until the extent of the devastation became clear.

She said: “It wasn’t until we managed to get wi-fi at one of the lodges that we realised.

“We had to return to Kathmandu for our flight and that’s when we realised how serious the earthquake had been.

“The hotel where our passports were was badly damaged but they managed to retrieve them.

“We had a day in Kathmandu before our flight so I spent that time doing what I could to help by shifting rubble.

“We left our torches and trekking gear to help the locals and any money left over we gave to the aid effort.”

Mrs Rowlands, who arrived home on Saturday, raised £4,000 for leukaemia research after trekking in Cambodia in November, but does not know how much her Nepal trip will raise