As the death toll continues to climb after a devastating earthquake in Nepal, Bay area residents are sharing their own personal connections with the tragedy.
Kristen Brauer, a veterinarian based out of St. Petersburg, was in Nepal's airport when the shaking began.
"All of a sudden, the ground started to move. I had never experienced an earthquake before," Brauer said.
She was on the trip with fellow amateur photographers to capture pictures of the country. She had no idea every picture she snapped was another moment closer to disaster.
"I have photos of two weeks of people, I don't even know their names," she said. "They were just kind enough to let me photograph them, and they could be dead right now. That's the worst part."
Brauer was able to leave the airport hours later, one of the last few flights allowed to take off before it closed down for the day.
Meanwhile, Jagannath Devkota was at home in Tampa during the earthquake when he got a call from his nephew.
Devkota, a USF student and Nepal native, says the call immediately went silent and he didn't hear from his mother or nephews. He wondered if they made it out alive.
"I tried to call my family, everything was disconnected," he said. "The phone wasn't working."
Finally, the call came through that they were OK. But, his family has had problems getting water and electricity.
Devkota contacts his family by phone now several times a day for updates, and keeps up with everything on Facebook.
While he is relieved his family escaped with their lives, Devkota is heartbroken over the destruction he sees in his native country.
"Some of the pictures, I cannot even look at them," he said. "My wife was just weeping."