Patrick Adams, 36, an American writer and photographer who specializes in public health reporting, was in Katmandu Saturday when a major earthquake hit the country, killing nearly 4,000 people. Since then, Mr. Adams has been traveling around the city to see the destruction, and talking to victims and health care workers at the city’s teaching hospital.

He spoke with The Times Monday via Skype from a house on the edge of Katmandu. The following interview with Mr. Adams has been edited and condensed.

Where were you and what were you doing when the earthquake struck on Saturday?

I was at a hotel called Shangri-La. Katmandu is crazy and polluted, and this hotel is sort of a sanctuary with a nice courtyard out back. I had been going there every day. I was trying to put my coffee back on the table and didn’t realize what was happening. Then things started falling off the wall; I was like, “Oh, it’s an earthquake!”

There was a gardener in the courtyard, and I realized afterward that he and I were sort of holding onto one another.