The mother of Himalaya trekker Laura Wood told of her relief after her daughter’s lucky escape from the earthquake in Nepal which claimed more than 2,500 lives.
Mother-of-three Jane Wood, of Golcar, said she was upset after hearing of the 7.8 magnitude quake which struck just before midday on Saturday, sending tremors through the Kathmandu Valley and the nearby city of Pokhara.
But she relaxed when daughter Laura, 25, sent her a text message at 1pm saying: “Don’t worry, Mum, I’m OK.”
But later in the day she said she became apprehensive again when national newspaper websites began reporting that she was missing.
She was also listed on Google’s Person Finder tool under a section entitled 2015 Nepal Earthquake.
Jane said: “I panicked until she texted my son at 3am on Sunday saying that she really was OK.”
Laura, a former Colne Valley High School and Huddersfield New College student, who studied at Manchester University, has travelled all over the world in recent years, taking in spells in Thailand, Australia, California and Fiji.
Jane, who works at a bistro in Lindley, said Laura had been travelling since September 2013 though she had popped home “in and between.
“She just loves life and is a beautiful girl. She just said she didn’t want to get settled down, she wanted to see the world. She got a part-time job and saved up to go.
“I think she is coming home to see us all at Christmas. She has been having a brilliant time and will be coming home to visit and then go back to Australia.
“The reason she was doing this 200-mile Himalaya trek was so she could raise money for a school in Nepal.
“Every £1 she raises sends a child to school for a week and people have been sponsoring her through the One Love Project Pushkar. She was half way round and on her way back. She is walking with a man who happens to be a doctor but I can’t remember his name.”
She said that Laura had told her of “falling boulders and big rocks but fortunately she happened to be out in the open walking with a guy who started the walk with her.
“ I don’t know precisely how close she was to the earthquake but she has had a lucky escape.
“She just happened to be in a good place. She knew that there had been an earthquake. She got to Pokhara and immediately offered to see if she could do anything to help. I spoke to her briefly and she kept saying: ‘I’m OK, I’m OK.’”
Bev Cottrell, Jane’s next door neighbour and best friend, said: “I have known Jane since she was three-years-old and Laura since she was a child.
“She is a lovely girl and is more like a daughter to me.
“She even calls me her ‘other mum’. I heard about what had happened on Saturday night when Joe told me. It was quite a shock.
“Laura is a lovely, bubbly girl who just attracts people. She is such a sociable person who gets on with everybody.”
Niall Wood, Laura’s father, who also lives in Golcar, said: “I heard from Laura on Saturday and Sunday morning. She is all right. It was a tremendous relief.”
Anyone who would like to donate to Laura’s school appeal should go to www.fundrazr.com/7jXta
