A desperate time for Nepalese living in New Zealand, who are trying to contact family and friends at home.

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The death toll from the powerful 7.8 magnitude earthquake which struck the Himalayan nation has risen to 1832.

Santosh Acharya now lives in Auckland, but his family lives about half an hour away from Kathmandu's airport.

He's been able to make contact with them, and everyone's ok.

But he says nobody's slept.

"While I was talking to my nephew, he's just 14, he's telling me that the earthquake was ongoing, the aftershocks.

"It's deadly there. It's crazy."