Norwich — The Marasini family had the TV on and stayed anxiously by the phone from Saturday night through Sunday, watching images of their homeland in ruins while hoping and praying their dozens of relatives survived the devastating earthquake that shattered normal life in Nepal.

“It’s very, very sad, but what can you do?” Bhawati Marasini said Tuesday night after returning from her 10-hour day at work as a kitchen aide at the University of Connecticut in Storrs. “It’s very, very hard to imagine.”

Bhawati, her husband, Suvinda, and their daughter, Astha, 15, a freshman at Norwich Free Academy, and son, Amrit, 7, a second-grader at the Samuel Huntington School in Norwich, now have heard from most of their relatives in Nepal. As phone service was restored and lines became less jammed, more and more relatives called one another and communicated news to the Marasinis in Norwich.

Suvinda and Amrit Marasini visited family in Nepal in December. Their visit included some centuries-old historic sites and monuments Suvinda Marasini said he fears are now destroyed — including one 90-story tower. He said millions of people visited those sites during holidays and religious days.

“They’re all collapsed, destroyed,” he said.

Astha Marasini said Wednesday that her family first learned about the earthquake early Saturday night when an aunt called from Nepal. For a few days the family had trouble reaching relatives, and “my mom was pretty worried” watching TV news, she said.

Family members are safe and uninjured, Suvinda Marasini said, but life is far from normal.

Many family members — some of whom live about 300 miles from the capital city of Kathmandu — either have some damage in their homes or they are frightened of further aftershocks. They go into their homes during the day to cook food and maybe eat and change clothes, but they sleep outside, Suvinda Marasini said.

Bhawati Marasini said her brother’s son, who is 10, “is very, very scared,” and refuses to go inside at all.

“He told them to bring him food, and he would eat outside,” she said.

Bhawati Marasini has been planning her own trip to Nepal since before the earthquake. She hopes to leave May 26 and stay for about three weeks visiting her parents, brothers and sisters, and as many relatives as possible.

"I want to see everybody," she said.

Bhawati and Astha visited Nepal when the girl was 6 years old, and Bhawati Marasini said she last saw her mother, now 75, four years ago. "I miss my mom," she said.

Astha Marasini is one of three Nepalese students at NFA, school Diversity Director Leo Butler said. Amrit is the only Nepalese student in the Norwich public school system, officials there said.

While southeastern Connecticut has seen a significant influx of immigrants from several Asian nations over the past decade or more — many drawn to jobs at the two casinos — few have come from Nepal.

Suvinda Marasini said his family moved to the United States in 2003 seeking better economic opportunities. He said jobs are hard to find in Nepal. When the family first settled in New London, he found a job within a month. Suvinda Marasini now works at Foxwoods Resort Casino as a dealer. They live in Norwich in the Jail Hill neighborhood.

Butler said NFA, through the Project Outreach student community service program, will plan a fundraiser to send relief aid to Nepal. Butler said he will confer with the Marasini family about identifying a reputable charity in Nepal where the money could do the most good.

An Associated Press story Wednesday put the death toll from the earthquake at more than 5,000, with 10,000 injured and thousands homeless. An estimated 1.4 million people are in need of food assistance, the AP story said. And five days after the quake, rescue workers and relief supplies are just starting to reach remote villages near the earthquake’s epicenter.

Liz Donovan, spokesman for U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, said the congressman’s office is available for local Nepalese families trying to reach relatives and friends in the earthquake-ravaged areas.

Courtney’s Norwich office is located at 55 Main St. and can be reached at (860) 886-0139.

c.bessette@theday.com

Twitter: @Bessettetheday