A MAN who was trekking through mountains in Nepal when last month's earthquake hit told The Northern Echo he has "never felt fear like it".

Twenty-three-year-old Arron Briddick had just sat down for lunch in a restaurant when the first tremor of the 7.9 magnitude quake hit.

“We had just sat down and the whole building started rocking from side to side, there was a really low rumbling sound and for the first ten seconds everybody just stood up and looked at each other, we didn’t really know what was happening,” said Mr Briddick, from Coundon Grange, near Bishop Auckland.

“I turned to look out of the window and saw rocks tumbling down a really sharp cliff face on the other side of the mountain, at that moment I realised that it could be happening on this side too and suddenly thought there was no way this hut was going to stop the rocks falling.”

Mr Briddick, who was in Nepal on a trekking holiday, followed the restaurant owner and other diners out the back of the restaurant and up a muddy slope.

He said: “I remember I didn’t have any shoes on and it had been raining so it was wet, I was just scrambling up the cliff, digging my nails into the mud trying to get underneath this rock for safety.

“After it had all stopped the women just broke down and started crying. I was so scared when I was climbing up the hill, I have never ever felt fear like that, and I was just shaking afterwards.”

Mr Briddick, a PHD student in physical chemistry at Durham University, spent the first week of his trip in a hotel in central Kathmandu, before trekking through the Annapurna mountains, where he was when the earthquake hit.

“I feel like we have been really lucky,” he said. “If the earthquake had happened when we were in the hotel it could have been a lot worse.

“After the earthquake I wanted to get back down the mountains and back to the hotel, but the guide said it would be safer to keep going up, away from any buildings or structures that could fall.”

The earthquake, on April 25, killed more than 7,000 people and injured many more.

The Northern Echo:

The family of Mr Briddick's apprentice guide forced to live in makeshift tents after their home was wrecked by the earthquake

After trekking for a few days Mr Briddick's group eventually made it back to the hotel where they had left their luggage but were not allowed in due to the large cracks in the walls.

“I couldn’t believe the devastation and we only saw the outskirts of Kathmandu,” he said.

“I’m so relieved to be home, I’ve never been so happy to see grey skies than when our plane landed. I would like to go back one day, but not for a long time.”

Mr Briddick has also set up a Go Fund Me internet appeal to help his 21-year-old apprentice guide Sonam Pakhrin and his family rebuild their home after it partially collapsed during the earthquake.

He said: ""They have been forced to live outside in makeshift tents and the monsoon season is fast approaching in Nepal where this will become very dangerous.

To help Sonam and his family visit: http://www.gofundme.com/helpsonam

The Northern Echo:

Devastated: The family home of Mr Briddick's apprentice guide Sonam Pakhrin