A DORSET volunteer had a terrifying experience when Saturday morning's south Asia earthquake shook the area of northern India where she is staying.

Former Parkstone Grammar School pupil Georgina Codd, 18, is on a six-month placement in the Tibetan enclave of Dharamsala in the Himalayan foothills, where she is teaching English at a Buddhist nunnery. The settlement is around 200 miles from the Pakistani capital of Islamabad.

Georgina, of Parkstone, told the Daily Echo: "It was very scary. I was out at the well in the courtyard doing my washing. I suddenly thought I was having a spell of vertigo, then I realised that the trees above me and the buildings around me were shaking.

"Everybody had stopped what they were doing. All the dogs started barking. It went on for about a minute. I couldn't stand up because the shaking was so strong."

First published: October 11