From the densely populated city of Kathmandu to the remote village of Thame, the Nepalese felt the force of the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that rocked the country on April 25. Local and global photographers converged on the scene almost instantly as aftershocks recurred, each one seemingly worse than the preceding blow.

As photo editors for National Geographic News, we worked to cover the story as it unfolded. During the course of our coverage, we learned of three photographers who were already on the scene in both Kathmandu and Thame when the earthquake hit.

We interviewed these three photographers over email about their experience, five days after the earthquake.

Thomas Kelly is an American photographer who has lived in Kathmandu