A SoCal woman caught up in the Nepal earthquake thought she was going to die when the massive temblor struck.
Charity worker Lydia Dean of Tarzana could not believe the strength of the 7.8-magnitude quake that hit during her trip to Kathmandu.
The mother-of-three feared she would never see her family again due to the strength of the tremors.
"Feeling the floor, everything was fluid and I just looked out and thought this actually… might be it, I mean I think this is it for me," Dean said.
She said people on the ground were trying as best they could to help each other in spite of the carnage,
"You would find anybody... and grab them. Just look into their eyes and you're just screaming," Dean said.
Rather than sleep indoors, where the risk of a building collapsing was high, she slept with thousands of others in tents outside.
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Dean ended up leaving soon after, catching her scheduled flight just before 20 minutes before a 6.7 aftershock shut the airport down.
However she still felt guilty to be leaving when so many people were suffering in Nepal, where more than 4,300 bodies have been recovered since Saturday's earthquake
"I had such mixed emotions because I know I'm leaving but I know what I'm leaving behind and what people have to deal with," Dean said.
Tens of thousands are currently living in tents with no access to bathrooms or clean water. Dean is now planning to do all she can to help through her GoPhilanthropic Foundation.
"I'm going to do more, I'm going to find a way. I think this is just the beginning," Dean said.
A team of specialists from El Segundo are among those who will be lending aid as part of Team Rubicon, a nonprofit disaster relief organization led and comprised mainly of military veterans and first responders.
Operation USA and Santa Monica-based relief agency International Medical Corps are also providing aid.
