A VOLUNTEER health worker who survived the Nepal earthquake is planning a return visit to region she described as a ‘war zone’.

Zoe Nash, from Dittisham, said she felt lucky to be alive after she was caught up in the disaster that hit the Himalayan nation just over a year ago.

At the time she said she was even more determined to get aid to those affected by the quake and was inspired to continue working with charity projects overseas.

Now she is hoping to go on another mission back to Nepal to offer free acupuncture and medical care to the local people in a rural health clinic south west of Kathmandu.

‘There is very little health care available in these regions and there is an incredible great need for aid,’ she Zoe, 31, who will be working with the Acupuncture Relief Project.

‘This will be my third trip. I am so passionate about this work and this country and its people that I want to make this a continued offering and part of my practice.

‘This time I will be involved in the clinic in a slightly different way, taking on the role as a team leader for the group of acupuncture volunteers that will work in the clinic for the first time.

‘I will help guide them through the procedures of working in a third world clinic and give support to them on a personal level as it can be physically and emotionally challenging at times to be faced with some of the cases and conditions we see in the clinic.

‘I will also be treating my own patients in-between taking care of the practitioners.

‘I’m really excited to be a part of the this growing project and to become more involved with it as I spend more time out there working in the clinic and with the acupuncture relief project team.’

Zoe is raising money for her two- month placement, during which she says she will be treating about 20 people a day.

She is no stranger to challenging situations – more than 10 years ago cheated death in the Boxing Day tsunami when in December 2004 she was washed off a Thai beach by a giant wave but managed to clamber to safety in the disaster that killed 200,000 people.

Zoe was on a bus during the Nepal earthquake which claimed more than 5,000 lives.

When the quake struck she was in Bhaktapur, the historic world heritage city in the Kathmandu Valley, where at least 200 people were feared to have died as historic buildings toppled.

Afterwards she said her double ordeal had made her appreciate being alive.

‘I never feel unlucky, I feel incredibly blessed to be alive,’ she said.

‘It’s taught me to be grateful for the basic things in life, and never to take them for granted.

‘And I’m amazed by the strength of people who’ve lost everything.

‘The Nepalese people touched me deeply with their kind hearts and generous nature.

‘They deserve all the help they can receive.’

Zoe studied for a degree in traditional Chinese medicine at the University of Salford, Manchester.

Donations towards Zoe’s trip can be made online at https://www.flipcause.com/secure/fundraiser/NjM1NQ==/391