उमेर (Age):
21
ब्यावसाय/सम्बन्धन (Profession/affiliation): मिडिया क्षेत्र (media sector) / गैर मिडिया क्षेत्र (non-media sector)
मिडिया क्षेत्र (media sector)
बैसाख १२ गते भुकम्प जाँदा तपाईं कहाँ हुनुहुन्थ्यो र के गर्दै हुनुहुन्थ्यो? (Please describe where you were and what you were doing when the earthquake hit Nepal on 25 April 2015?)
I had a late night on Friday because I was watching the popular English series called ‘Game of Thrones’. I slept around 3 in the morning. When the earthquake hit, I was obviously sleeping in my room. It was such an awful experience which I will never be able to forget.
भुकुम्प जाने बित्तिकै तपाईंले कस्तो प्रतिक्रिया (मानसिक, शारीरिक) प्रकट गर्नु भयो र के गर्नु भयो? (Please describe your immediate mental and physical reaction, and your response following the quake).
As soon as I woke up, I went to my grandmother. To my dismay, she wasn’t even able to get up properly. The moment she got up, she tumbled down again. I cried. I cried and helped her. Then I took out my packing bags and packed some dry foods, water, first aid kit, some clothes and a whistle. Then we ran off to an open compound switching off our main gas line and electricity line. For the first time in my life, I feared death. I was so convinced that this was my last day.
त्यतिखेर तपाईंलाई सब भन्दा महत्वपूर्ण कुरा (सरोकार) के लागेको थियो? (What were your most important concerns at that time?)
I was scared for my grandmother who is 74 years old. I had to take her to some safe place. And the others concerns were my house catching a fire if I didn’t shut the main gas line and the electricity box line.
त्यस बेला तपाईंले के-कस्ता सूचना खोज्नु भयो? आफूलाई आवश्यक सूचनाहरु पाउनु भयो त? (What types of information were you looking for at that time? Did you have access to all the information you needed?)
I live quite far from the city area and most of the people here don’t know what to do when such a disastrous natural calamity hits. I tried to spread the awarness of the do’s and don’ts of earthqauke and as we all know that there was no electricity but, thanks god, all the radio stations were still active and on duty. So the only access of our information was radio at that point of time.
रेडियो, टेलिभिजन, समाचारपत्र, अनलाइन जस्ता समाचार स्रोतहरु तपाईंलाई जानकारी दिन कत्तिको उपयोगी साबित भए? मिडियाका कुन पक्ष कमजोर, कुन पक्ष सबल रहे? (How helpful were news media such as radio, television, newspapers, online news portals, etc in informing you immediately after the quake and the days following it? Please note their strengths as well as weaknesses).
The only helpful media at that point of time were radio and newspapers. Those two were the only things which kept us aware of what is happening in our country. Since there was no electricity we got no access to television, online news etc.
भुकम्प पछिको हफ्ता कसरी बिताउनु भो? (Please describe how you spent the week following the quake– what you did, etc.).
I believe in humanity. My perspective in life is that the more you help people, the more you will be satisfied with life. So, from 27 April, I just couldn’t bear the sight of all those who had lost their homes, their loved ones and those who were hurt. All the hospitals were already packed with patients. So I and my friend collected all the money we had and went to buy medicines. But unfortunately there wasn’t even a single paracetamol left in the pharmacy near our house. Then we walked and found another pharmacy, then we bought all that we could find and left for Harisiddhi. There were so many people lost and in pain. We helped them. We gave them glucose, jeevan jal etc and medicines and cleaned up wounds. We sat down with the children, played with them, convinced people to be strong saying that they were not alone. We walked and checked in every tent we possibly could. Then on 29 April, more of my friends joined me. We not only distributed medicines, played with the children, convinced the adults but we distributed food as well. Together our team 3G1B- for humanity went to 12 different districts and provided relief materials to the earthquake victims. Today we are an NGO now. We are focusing on our ‘Asha Ghar’ project.
त्यो हफ्ता तपाईंको सबैभन्दा स्मरणीय कुरा? (Any memorable facts or incidents during the week following the quake?)
On our way to Sindhupalchowk, we met with an accident. Our vehicle’s brake had failed but we did not give up. We went back to Bhaktapur, got our brakes repaired and went back to Sindhupalchowk for relief work.
बैसाख १२ गतेको भुकम्पवाट हामीले के पाठ सिक्नु पर्छ? (What are some of the lessons that we should take away from the 25 April 2015 quake in Nepal?)
Life is too uncertain. You never know what’s going to happen next. Enjoy it, live every moment. Don’t take anything for granted. Be nice to everyone, don’t always judge people by their looks. You never know what they have been through.
If you haven’t shared your testimonial on Nepal earthquake 2015, you can do so here.
If you haven’t shared your testimonial on Nepal earthquake 2015, you can do so here.