I realized my head was spinning. I again felt the surface beneath me was shaking. I tried to standstill but could not stand properly. I was trying to catch up the tap but it did not provide support to me. I again took help of two walls but it appeared they were also moving. Then suddenly I heard sharp rattling sounds. I felt if it was helicopter near my house. I was taking note of every possible reason on why I was feeling so. I felt I was feeling completely different but I was not sure on what it was. Despite assuming every possible things, I did not assume it as earthquake. I continued to take shower and suddenly my mom shouted out. 'Are you alright?
'hmm Ya..' I was not feeling alright..
'Yes.. hmm.. But..I am not feeling good Mom..'
'Did not you realize such a big earthquake.. How can you not realize earthquake.. It was a big one..Are you fine?'
The surface beneath me started shaking again. I realized the walls were moving again, but in real that was not the case.
'No, I felt I was not feeling well. I felt it was me having some kind of difficulty.'
I landed in the real world now only and the reality was a shock for me. I did not even realize that what appeared like head-spinning was a massive Earthquake in real. I took shower and went out of home. Till then, everyone in our locality were outside home. Some of them were surprised to see me inside while some of them were still with shocking experience. I realized that when everyone was rushing out of home to find 'safe' place, I was trying to find possible reason that made the surface beneath moving. I recalled on how I had made every possible speculation from too much hustle-bustle, not eating properly, directly diving to shower from travel and etc.
Then the 'communication series' began. Call was not connecting so I swapped into text. The senders were different and the recipients were different but the content was same.
'Are you safe? Is your family safe? It was such a big one. Take care' and blah blah...
On next round, I was trying to reach to more of my colleagues and they were also trying to reach more. Then the updates were changing. I have been able to connect with this and this but not with that one ..
After a while, there was another tremor again. Aftershock was powerful enough to remind others the first one, while It was the first one I recognized that day as earthquake. I was trying to reach to my relatives, friends and colleagues but no call was connecting. Suddenly a kid in our locality got faint. She stood strong in the first quake but could not be brave in the second one. She was rushed to hospital. Her aunt shared later on how many journalists caught them before they could reach to 'emergency ward'. She was discharged the same day.
We had family function on Saturday and I had rushed home to attend the function scheduled at 12:00 but the earthquake (7.8) hit us at 11:56 AM [25 April, 2016]. Guests were caught in between travel but they managed to reach safe. Indoor venue was again changed to outdoor venue and the function kept going. During the function, I was trying to capture the moments. Camera was capturing faces. Faces with fear. Faces with frustrations. Still and reluctant faces. Function moved on but the momentum of participant was different than expected. Guests returned home.
Mom was reaching to many relatives and getting updates. Her Ncell had been of real use. My brother who never bothered to call home [From India] had called in such a worrying tone. We had no electricity. Dad could not locate his radio and as rushing to shops to find one but all in vain. Though he found his radio, that was not working. Thanks to our neighbor who mended it using his local technology and tricks. Battery was sinking in cell. I got call from Friends but the news was quite unpleasant. My friend's home was badly affected from earthquake. Our friends had made quick plans to leave early on Sunday.
Another call was from my boss regarding situation reporting and emergency meeting. Throughout the night, We were listening Radio. Big FM was broadcasting throughout the night. Victims were sharing their stories. I could not stop my tears when a 65 year old lady from Lekhnath shared on how her 12 year granddaughter saved her toddler brother by bringing him out of broken home.
At 3;00 mom was sharing status of our locality. It took me no while to figure out it was a wrong number. It was call from abroad. He wanted to call #Chapakot (Part of Syangja district but quite far from our place). Though it was not for my mom he called, but he wanted some updates. Mom was also providing updates. So, I realized it was situations somehow guided our behaviours as well. During the times of pain, we tend to feel comfortable even with strangers.
Next day, early Sunday morning, I was rushing to catch-up Emergency meeting at Pokhara scheduled at 9:00 AM.
I reached Pokhara at 8:00 itself, found some time to explore a Radio. I was quite surprised to see my room. It was just the way I had left. To my utter surprise, everything looked perfect.
Following the discussions, we divided our works among team. I moved to District Development Committee's Meeting [District Disaster Relief Committee's coordination meeting with NGOs] along with 4 colleagues and Baral Sir. There were almost 45 participants and almost 20 were speaking at a go.
It was around 11:55. A person took his turn and told, 'May be we better have this meeting at our ground, there are predictions that there could be next tremor soon close to 12:00'.
Again there were 10-15 people shouting on him.
'There is no science to predict earthquake.'
'Had you this prediction knowledge, why did not you tell yesterday'
'You better stay silent'..
The response kept coming. Then the meeting continued in the regular mode. It was almost at end but we were already worrying to complete our different assignments. We decided to leave one by one. EB Chair was left. After a while, there was a big tremor (6.7 magnitude at 12:54) again. It was almost as powerful as second tremor of Saturday. We could see many people coming outside rushing outside. I tried to scan the whole crowd, but could not locate Baral Sir. The aftershock was still by then and I went inside DDC Meeting Hall, there was no one. I shouted 'Baral Sir, are you around?'
There was no response. I returned to the ground again and tried to go through the faces. Baral Sir was there among crowd with calm and smiling face. We returned to office and continued to get updates of staffs and their family.
My Cell balance in both Prepaid and Postpaid was zero as I had sent numerous texts. System was not accepting regular recharge cards, even I visited NTC's booth and bought their machine charging system. It did not work. NTC provided facility to allow calls even for those numbers who did not had balance. Again it had restrictions on length of call. It seemed justified so as to make conversations succinct and efficient. I tried to reach out friends who had been Nuwakot. Call was not reachable and with my zero balance, even the text facility was not available. My friend (Originally from Nuwakot who is now abroad) called me. There were few words and more silence in our conversation. He was worried about his home and friends who traveled his home despite terrible tremors (aftershocks). He was talking with heavy heart. We hanged out with the hope that our friends would return safe.
He continued, 'If there comes next aftershock, I will rush with my schoolbag. Otherwise I wont' be able to complete my homework.'
His mom responded 'Ok'.
He also asked me, 'Is your home at village also dismantled?'
I responded, 'No, my home is fine'.
Every kid had seen the devastation through the Television. At times he look worried while at times he looked happy to find a big bag full of junk foods.
We again lost connection with some staff (3 Staff who were on the way back from Tatopani) who reported that they were safe on Saturday. We were trying to reach them by every possible means. We had many internal shocks and aftershocks till we finally found them through the support our partner at Sindhupalchowk on Tuesday. No words would be enough to describe how you feel when you find your colleagues safe after searching them for 3 days. The main reason of our tension was Kodari. The place from where they reported and the place which was the epicenter of two aftershocks (Sunday) which were as powerful as main earthquakes.
Again two of our staffs were stranded in Jugu. Every time I talked with them, they tried to remain strong but they ended up sounding hopeless. They had seen many houses being collapsed in front of them. They had seen many households turning into debris. We all tried to keep our communications going on. There were so many emails floating. There was so much hope and so much consolation but in reality everyone was scared at their heart.
At the footnote, most emails mentioned,
But deep inside we all were feeling fragmented but still trying to have faith. There were so many messages in Facebook inbox. It felt so soothing to find so many friends and relatives who cared. One of my friend from Kirtipur was busy tracking earthquake in Social Media. My other friend who just made it to Nepal (1 week ago) shared on she felt if it was for earthquake that she returned home.
We would have lost more lives and obviously there would have been more injuries. As there are more male members who are working as immigrant workers, this earthquake has hit lots of families including many female headed families with dependent children. Families will now need to struggle even more to get relief (food, shelter and clothes). Government is trying to ensure distribution to all affected ones but its mechanism are not functioning properly. As the relief materials is stored for more than week in district headquarters following the indecisive meetings, thousands of families are looking at the roads and skies with hope. By now, relief should have been reached to the needy ones and government should have been worked to prepare rehabilitation and rebuilding strategy, but it's yet to reach to the remote villages and make the presence of government felt. Monsoon is approaching, so we can't have much delay to ensure minimum housing to the families who have lost their homes. Otherwise the series of devastation will be much bigger than we all have expected. On another note, having gone through such a massive devastation, earthquake affected ones will need counselling to come out of the trauma and move on.
#NepalEarthquake2015 has shattered thousands of dreams, hopes and lives. Many personal and public properties including world heritage sites, temples, monasteries, mosques, churches, towers, museums etc..have been damaged. This devastation has made us realize our #emptiness and somehow forced us to fill that emptiness with some #hopes. Yes we are trying to stand and move despite the difficult situations. We are struggling to get the hopes intact and have faith. We have seen people returning safe from the pond of death, we have seen rescuers finding people with fighting spirit in debris. We have learnt to feel #grateful, we have learnt to share, respect and admire what we have received. We have gained #endurance at the cost of many lives and resources.
#RIP to the departed souls. We will never forget you, we have learnt big lessons at the cost of your life and we will never dare to forget you. You all will be remembered always.
'hmm Ya..' I was not feeling alright..
'Yes.. hmm.. But..I am not feeling good Mom..'
'Did not you realize such a big earthquake.. How can you not realize earthquake.. It was a big one..Are you fine?'
The surface beneath me started shaking again. I realized the walls were moving again, but in real that was not the case.
'No, I felt I was not feeling well. I felt it was me having some kind of difficulty.'
I landed in the real world now only and the reality was a shock for me. I did not even realize that what appeared like head-spinning was a massive Earthquake in real. I took shower and went out of home. Till then, everyone in our locality were outside home. Some of them were surprised to see me inside while some of them were still with shocking experience. I realized that when everyone was rushing out of home to find 'safe' place, I was trying to find possible reason that made the surface beneath moving. I recalled on how I had made every possible speculation from too much hustle-bustle, not eating properly, directly diving to shower from travel and etc.
Then the 'communication series' began. Call was not connecting so I swapped into text. The senders were different and the recipients were different but the content was same.
'Are you safe? Is your family safe? It was such a big one. Take care' and blah blah...
On next round, I was trying to reach to more of my colleagues and they were also trying to reach more. Then the updates were changing. I have been able to connect with this and this but not with that one ..
After a while, there was another tremor again. Aftershock was powerful enough to remind others the first one, while It was the first one I recognized that day as earthquake. I was trying to reach to my relatives, friends and colleagues but no call was connecting. Suddenly a kid in our locality got faint. She stood strong in the first quake but could not be brave in the second one. She was rushed to hospital. Her aunt shared later on how many journalists caught them before they could reach to 'emergency ward'. She was discharged the same day.
We had family function on Saturday and I had rushed home to attend the function scheduled at 12:00 but the earthquake (7.8) hit us at 11:56 AM [25 April, 2016]. Guests were caught in between travel but they managed to reach safe. Indoor venue was again changed to outdoor venue and the function kept going. During the function, I was trying to capture the moments. Camera was capturing faces. Faces with fear. Faces with frustrations. Still and reluctant faces. Function moved on but the momentum of participant was different than expected. Guests returned home.
Mom was reaching to many relatives and getting updates. Her Ncell had been of real use. My brother who never bothered to call home [From India] had called in such a worrying tone. We had no electricity. Dad could not locate his radio and as rushing to shops to find one but all in vain. Though he found his radio, that was not working. Thanks to our neighbor who mended it using his local technology and tricks. Battery was sinking in cell. I got call from Friends but the news was quite unpleasant. My friend's home was badly affected from earthquake. Our friends had made quick plans to leave early on Sunday.
Another call was from my boss regarding situation reporting and emergency meeting. Throughout the night, We were listening Radio. Big FM was broadcasting throughout the night. Victims were sharing their stories. I could not stop my tears when a 65 year old lady from Lekhnath shared on how her 12 year granddaughter saved her toddler brother by bringing him out of broken home.
At 3;00 mom was sharing status of our locality. It took me no while to figure out it was a wrong number. It was call from abroad. He wanted to call #Chapakot (Part of Syangja district but quite far from our place). Though it was not for my mom he called, but he wanted some updates. Mom was also providing updates. So, I realized it was situations somehow guided our behaviours as well. During the times of pain, we tend to feel comfortable even with strangers.
------
Next day, early Sunday morning, I was rushing to catch-up Emergency meeting at Pokhara scheduled at 9:00 AM.
I reached Pokhara at 8:00 itself, found some time to explore a Radio. I was quite surprised to see my room. It was just the way I had left. To my utter surprise, everything looked perfect.
Following the discussions, we divided our works among team. I moved to District Development Committee's Meeting [District Disaster Relief Committee's coordination meeting with NGOs] along with 4 colleagues and Baral Sir. There were almost 45 participants and almost 20 were speaking at a go.
It was around 11:55. A person took his turn and told, 'May be we better have this meeting at our ground, there are predictions that there could be next tremor soon close to 12:00'.
Again there were 10-15 people shouting on him.
'There is no science to predict earthquake.'
'Had you this prediction knowledge, why did not you tell yesterday'
'You better stay silent'..
The response kept coming. Then the meeting continued in the regular mode. It was almost at end but we were already worrying to complete our different assignments. We decided to leave one by one. EB Chair was left. After a while, there was a big tremor (6.7 magnitude at 12:54) again. It was almost as powerful as second tremor of Saturday. We could see many people coming outside rushing outside. I tried to scan the whole crowd, but could not locate Baral Sir. The aftershock was still by then and I went inside DDC Meeting Hall, there was no one. I shouted 'Baral Sir, are you around?'
There was no response. I returned to the ground again and tried to go through the faces. Baral Sir was there among crowd with calm and smiling face. We returned to office and continued to get updates of staffs and their family.
My Cell balance in both Prepaid and Postpaid was zero as I had sent numerous texts. System was not accepting regular recharge cards, even I visited NTC's booth and bought their machine charging system. It did not work. NTC provided facility to allow calls even for those numbers who did not had balance. Again it had restrictions on length of call. It seemed justified so as to make conversations succinct and efficient. I tried to reach out friends who had been Nuwakot. Call was not reachable and with my zero balance, even the text facility was not available. My friend (Originally from Nuwakot who is now abroad) called me. There were few words and more silence in our conversation. He was worried about his home and friends who traveled his home despite terrible tremors (aftershocks). He was talking with heavy heart. We hanged out with the hope that our friends would return safe.
------
My friends reportedly returned the same night. They shared their Nuwakot experience next day. Their sharing was no less than a major aftershock. I continued to work and get updates. While being with colleagues and friends, I found myself quite strong. But whenever I was alone, something used to haunt me from deep inside. So I had moved into Sister's place on Sunday itself. Her 6 year old son was seen asking in every 2-3 hours, 'Mom, why are not we shaking again'?He continued, 'If there comes next aftershock, I will rush with my schoolbag. Otherwise I wont' be able to complete my homework.'
His mom responded 'Ok'.
He also asked me, 'Is your home at village also dismantled?'
I responded, 'No, my home is fine'.
------
Every kid had seen the devastation through the Television. At times he look worried while at times he looked happy to find a big bag full of junk foods.
We again lost connection with some staff (3 Staff who were on the way back from Tatopani) who reported that they were safe on Saturday. We were trying to reach them by every possible means. We had many internal shocks and aftershocks till we finally found them through the support our partner at Sindhupalchowk on Tuesday. No words would be enough to describe how you feel when you find your colleagues safe after searching them for 3 days. The main reason of our tension was Kodari. The place from where they reported and the place which was the epicenter of two aftershocks (Sunday) which were as powerful as main earthquakes.
Again two of our staffs were stranded in Jugu. Every time I talked with them, they tried to remain strong but they ended up sounding hopeless. They had seen many houses being collapsed in front of them. They had seen many households turning into debris. We all tried to keep our communications going on. There were so many emails floating. There was so much hope and so much consolation but in reality everyone was scared at their heart.
At the footnote, most emails mentioned,
'Stay calm, stay strong, keep updated and stay connected'
But deep inside we all were feeling fragmented but still trying to have faith. There were so many messages in Facebook inbox. It felt so soothing to find so many friends and relatives who cared. One of my friend from Kirtipur was busy tracking earthquake in Social Media. My other friend who just made it to Nepal (1 week ago) shared on she felt if it was for earthquake that she returned home.
------
Every misfortunes has some fortunate things with it. Had this devastation been in midnight, or on work days, then what? We would have lost more lives and obviously there would have been more injuries. As there are more male members who are working as immigrant workers, this earthquake has hit lots of families including many female headed families with dependent children. Families will now need to struggle even more to get relief (food, shelter and clothes). Government is trying to ensure distribution to all affected ones but its mechanism are not functioning properly. As the relief materials is stored for more than week in district headquarters following the indecisive meetings, thousands of families are looking at the roads and skies with hope. By now, relief should have been reached to the needy ones and government should have been worked to prepare rehabilitation and rebuilding strategy, but it's yet to reach to the remote villages and make the presence of government felt. Monsoon is approaching, so we can't have much delay to ensure minimum housing to the families who have lost their homes. Otherwise the series of devastation will be much bigger than we all have expected. On another note, having gone through such a massive devastation, earthquake affected ones will need counselling to come out of the trauma and move on.
#NepalEarthquake2015 has shattered thousands of dreams, hopes and lives. Many personal and public properties including world heritage sites, temples, monasteries, mosques, churches, towers, museums etc..have been damaged. This devastation has made us realize our #emptiness and somehow forced us to fill that emptiness with some #hopes. Yes we are trying to stand and move despite the difficult situations. We are struggling to get the hopes intact and have faith. We have seen people returning safe from the pond of death, we have seen rescuers finding people with fighting spirit in debris. We have learnt to feel #grateful, we have learnt to share, respect and admire what we have received. We have gained #endurance at the cost of many lives and resources.
#RIP to the departed souls. We will never forget you, we have learnt big lessons at the cost of your life and we will never dare to forget you. You all will be remembered always.
8 May 2015
My organization LI-BIRD (www.libird.org) took decision to work for relief. We had no funds available. We decided to raise fund internally. We got overwhelming response from staff, members, different individuals and organizations associated with us. The helping hands and supporting spirit is motivating us. While many of my colleagues are busy doing 'relief operations' in many fields, we are coordinating from Head Office Pokhara. So far, we have already conducted relief operations in Tanahu, Gorakha, Dhading in coordination with the District Disaster Relief Committee (DDRC) and Red Cross District Chapter, respective Village Development Committee. Some colleagues are working to conduct relief in Sindhupalchowk and Dolakha.
------
