Mrs Khadka (26) and her husband Mahesh (28) are both Nepalese but have lived in Wanaka for several years.
She is the manager of the Wanaka Minimart and he works at the town's Four Square supermarket.
Mr Khadka had returned to Nepal several weeks ago to renew his passport and visit family, who live just outside of Bhaktapur in the Kathmandu Valley.
He was talking to his wife back in Wanaka on the phone when Saturday's quake struck.
''I could hear the screaming of the people and the shouting and a big noise,'' Mrs Khadka said.
As the shaking stopped, her husband had just enough time to tell her he was OK before the phone connection was lost.
It was several more hours before Mrs Khadka was able to confirm he and his family and her own parents - who live 23km east of Kathmandu - were unharmed.
However, Mr Khadka and his family and Mrs Khadka's parents were now living in tents, as they were unsure whether it was safe to stay in their badly damaged homes.
Mrs Khadka had been making regular phone calls to her husband, who was charging his cellphone from a motorcycle as there was no mains power.
''He seems OK. Whether he's assuring me not to get worried ... He just said: `Don't worry we are fine here'.''
Mr Khadka was taking care of his family and their neighbours and providing food for them all from his parents' house, although supplies were running low.
It was also cold and had been raining.
The destruction around them made it impossible to travel far at present, ''and in addition to that, the aftershocks are coming every time, so they're staying together''.
Mr Khadka had been scheduled to return to New Zealand next week, but he was unsure whether he would be able to collect his transit visa from the Thai embassy in Kathmandu in order to return via Bangkok.
Mrs Khadka said there was a small close-knit community of about 10 Nepalese people living in Wanaka and she understood all of them had been able to make contact with their family members back in Nepal to confirm they were safe.
