Elizabeth Weir describes aftermath of Nepal earthquake

Elizabeth Weir was standing in front of a group of Nepalese parliamentarians giving a presentation when the room started to shake.

"The pillars in the room were literally swaying back and forth," the former New Brunswick NDP leader said in an interview from Istanbul, Turkey, this week.

It wasn't clear at the moment, but Weir hadjust experienced a magnitude 7.8 earthquake, which levelled towns in the region and has killed more than 6,200 people.

Shift - NB12:13Weir out of Nepal

Elizabeth Weir, the former leader of the provincial NDP, was in Nepal when the earthquake hit. She spoke with Shift today from Istanbul.

Weir was in the country to talk to politicians with the National Democracy Institute for International Affairs.

The event was being held at a hotel roughly 75 minutes from Kathmandu. The former New Brunswick MLA was at the front of the room when the quake hit, so she said it took some time before she was able to get outside.

She said the normal advice to duck and cover after earthquakes did not resonate in this situation.

"That is in, probably, situations where you are in buildings that are well constructed and I don't think anybody necessarily had the confidence that we were in one of those," she said.

When she stepped outside, Weir said she looked around and what just happened became evident.

"When we did get out on the terrace, there is an immense valley underneath where the hotel was and as we looked around, there were these plumes of dust rising in the air because people's homes were collapsing," she said.

Weir and others who were attending the conference slept outside that night as they made plans to return to Kathmandu.

It wasn't until the next day that she and the delegation were able to get back to the capital.

When she pulled into Kathmandu, she said the damage was visible, but it wasn't as severe as some other parts of the country.

"It certainly wasn't [one of] the hardest hit areasof Nepal. The more remote villages because of mud brick constructionthose buildings and homes, many of them are simply a pile of rubble now," she said.

"The death toll and the injuries, many of them are in those remote areas where it is difficult to get search and rescue teams there."

Once back in the city, Weir began making plans to return Canada.

Unlike other Canadians who were in Nepal, Weir said the non-governmental organization that she was working with was making the necessary arrangements.

In the aftermath of the quakes, several governments began trying to get citizens out of Nepal and bring in relief to the country.

There was a three-kilometre line of people waiting to get to the Kathmandu airport, according to Weir. Attempts of people trying to get out of the country were slowed down by organizations and governments bringing aid into the country.

Weir said the local airport had only one runway, which led to congestionand more delays.

For Canadians, Weir said the Canadian government was "missing in action."

"To me that was the classic case of the impact of budget cuts at [the Department of] Foreign Affairs, [Trade and Development Canada]. Nobody really thinks about it unless you are over in Nepal or you have your children there and you cannot reach them and there is nobody there to provide service to them," she said.

"When I went to the airport, the Australians had a team of people there, the Brits were there, you couldn't see a maple leaf because there wasn't one there."