It was a nearly a middle of a day [Saturday April 25 2015] while me and my friend were talking about our last journey from Kathmandu(Nepal) to Raxaul(India) (friend’s brother’s wedding) and we were so tired as we returned back to Kathmandu just Friday. I was forcing my friend to get off from the bed and take a breakfast but suddenly I felt dizzy movement which was an earthquake, it was so quick with very high intensity of movement. I could easily decide that was a massive quake because there was a mass of crackling sound coming from around my house and those sounds were new to me. I grabbed one big pillow from bed and brought my friend to cover up with that big rectangular pillow. We were sitting side by side near by door frame with our knee down position covering our heads. We were having a tough moment at that time and convince each other for not getting panic. After that massive shake my father and elder brother came down to the ground floor where I am living, Everybody were so terrified by this first sudden quake, we were planning for staying at ground floor for next 5 minutes as it was not quiet safe to go out from home at that moment. I looked outside my window to see the condition and there were people running and I saw my bike fell down and quickly went outside to keep my bike in double stand position. The road way of my house was already cracked, my neighbor’s house also had cracks at the basement, I checked my house as well but it was not hurt.
Now it was a time for me to get temporarily settled, I removed everything (laptop, monitor, other stuffs) from my table and placed that table for making a proper place to hide under it. I went to the top of my house for switching off the gasoline which was left on. My brother then shut down the main power line of the house. It was a noon time 12:00 when this was happening. I grabbed dried food like noodles (10-15), beaten rice (3-4 Kgs) and some puffs from the kitchen and brought things down to ground floor of my house. Everybody was so terrified, I knew it could happen anytime and to be an honest I was also little bit shaky too but it is my responsibility to take care of my family. I found that my mother was outside during that minute on the way to Kirtipur (15~ km away from home). We tried to call mother but almost all mobile network were jammed during that period. I was trying to call my sister many times via cell phone after the quake but she was actually rushing from Civil Mall to Home. I got miss call from another elder brother but I was not able to pick up. Everything were so messed up, people were crying and screaming while talking on a phone. There were few quakes still coming but it was not that big like before.
After that terrific quake i went to visit dharahara because there was already a massive rumor of “DHARAHARA” got collapsed. I could see those fear on everybody because there were so many rumors coming from news about the possible dangerous quake again. It was nearly 3 pm when me and my friend took a bike for a ride. Firstly I saw narayanhiti museum walls got collapsed by the road and then it went even worse when we reached at sundhara to see the dharahara which was totally damaged by the quake. I was shocked by that place . All over the place there was only dust and old bricks remaining. After this big tragic i went to see Civil Mall, one of the biggest of the city ; I could see many cracks and broken glasses around that mall and it was dangerous too. The only thing that I am able to see by looking around the city was “destruction” and it was painful for me to believe the reality. Three neighboring cities of Kathmandu i.e. Bhaktapur, Lalitpur and Kirtipur were also heavily affected by this quake. I felt like we have no more historical places in Kathmandu area , many years old temples were destroyed. I heart was crying by moment.
Kathmandu, city of concrete houses and you could barely find any free grounds or parks here. Now it was a time to find a free ground places for us to stay temporarily at night. There was a small parking ground nearby my house which was somehow safe than my house so we all packed up few blankets pillow and light mattress for taking a night outside there. It was not possible for all of us(family member) to get a sleep in that area because most of the space of that area were already allocated by other people. It was our compulsion to only stay still and be awake all night.
Today it has been already a week and more and we have faced many troubles and lessons to survive till today. We are still getting few small quakes once a day; we are working on making our country now even better. It is not a time for us to pray instead it is time for us to work hard for building our country better. My deepest sympathy goes for all those peoples and their relatives who had lost their life in this devastating earthquake.
Narayan,
I am speechless, I had no idea. I pray for you and your family.
Please take good care my friend. Can you email me?
Carl
Thanks mate 🙂 Nowadays everything is getting back to normal.
I live in Kathmandu , the capital city of Nepal , where an earthquake of 7.9m was hit recently. It was saturday 25th april 2015, I was in my flat at 10th floor. After a short game of train fever, I was having my breakfast.
It’s been more than 3 years that earthquake destroyed Nepal and upto this time, many earthquake victims are suffering. That day was the black day for us.