A devastating 7.8-magnitude earthquake erupted in the south-central Asian country of Nepal between the Himalayas and Kathmandu, the capital on April 25.

Many villages were flattened, historic buildings were reduced to rubble and thousands died or were injured.

Meanwhile, thousands of miles away at World Vision headquarters in Federal Way, Ben Chandler, a video producer at World Vision, and Kathryn Reid, a humanitarian news editor for the global nonprofit, mobilized to go as a team to Nepal where they would transmit back video, still photography and news articles, documenting the need of the people there and how World Vision was meeting that need.

“Current donors and potential donors were our audience,” Chandler said.

Chandler’s videos and Reid’s news articles were dispersed across World Vision’s social media network, like YouTube, Facebook and the World Vision website.

Chandler and Reid arrived in Nepal two days following the earthquake. They worked together, and sometimes separately, for two weeks before returning to Federal Way on May 10.

“We started at the international airport in Kathmandu and did a good bit (of reporting) around there before setting out into the countryside,” Reid said. “It’s a very different situation when you get out in the urban areas where you have to park and walk and climb into the small villages in the mountains.”

As Chandler and Reid ventured through the villages, documenting as they went, they said they saw pockets of poorly constructed, multi-story buildings that had collapsed like dominoes onto other buildings that were otherwise sturdy.

“We were focusing on people and their needs,” Reid said. “I did still photography and wrote news stories to send back to headquarters and for direct mail to particular groups like churches and to World Vision partnerships in other countries.”

Chandler said they were not the only World Vision communicators. Other World Vision communications offices in places like Africa, Malaysia, Mexico, Australia and India sent teams to document.

Though Federal Way is home base for World Vision — where it’s been located since moving operations from California in 1995 — the Christian humanitarian organization has global offices and a contingent of aid workers in nearly 100 countries, all with the objective to combat poverty and injustice the underprivileged suffer.

For example, World Vision has more than 200 staff based in Nepal and for the past decade more than 70 projects have been underway, focusing on maternal and child health, education, child protection, livelihoods, water, sanitation and hygiene.

“We have a World Vision base in Nepal,” said Amy Parodi, World Vision’s media relations director based in Federal Way. “We already know what the needs are and the language spoken there. In Nepal’s case, we’ve already done disaster preparedness in that area.”

Parodi said that global offices respond to localized flooding and earthquake relief. In the case of a large disaster, a global response team is dispatched.

Because of World Vision’s decade-long presence in Nepal, Parodi said it was many of the aid workers, in fact, who were impacted by the recent earthquake — many of their homes destroyed.

Chandler said there was no telling what impact his and Reid’s work had on the increase in financial donations to help in the aid work.

“Watching the view count on Facebook going up was great,” Chandler said.

Parodi said to date World Vision International has raised more than $36 million worldwide for the response in Nepal.

Reid, who has been with World Vision for nearly five years, said she loves nothing better than to talk to people about their needs and helping them make those connections to help their needs be met.

“There are things that we see that our donors don’t have the opportunity to see,” Reid said. “It’s a wonderful opportunity and responsibility to be able to connect them.”

Chandler has been with World Vision for nearly three years. He said he loves to share people’s stories.

“I see myself as the conduit between those who need help and the people who can provide the need,” he said.

Chandler said he will travel to Peru in less than two months to document work being done there. Reid said a return trip to Nepal is not in the plans, but she said she would love to return to see the progress being made there.

“There are so many things that we saw,” Reid said. “I would like to see where it goes.”

Parodi said that to date, World Vision has helped more than 65,000 people in Nepal.

Parodi said the monsoon season in Nepal has recently started.

“It is more urgent than ever to begin the rebuilding process so families can have a more permanent place to stay,” Parodi said. “World Vision has been working in Nepal for more than a decade and will be walking alongside the people of Nepal, transitioning from relief to long-term efforts in the coming months.”

How to help:

To support Nepal Earthquake Relief, visit donate.worldvision.org/ways-to-give/by-category/disaster-relief/nepal-quake.