उमेर (Age):
33
ब्यावसाय/सम्बन्धन (Profession/affiliation): मिडिया क्षेत्र (media sector) / गैर मिडिया क्षेत्र (non-media sector)
गैर मिडिया क्षेत्र (non-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 was with my family along with other 10 different families, altogether 48 people. We were on a trip to Sindhupalchowk. We were on the 3rd floor of a hotel. I was changing the outfit of Aradhya, my 10-year-old son.
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 I was changing my son’s outfit all of a sudden I noticed the room was shaking heavily, it was an earthquake. With half the cloth changed, I caught my son’s hand and ran down. On the way, I slipped and I lost balance. We were barefoot, all the bottles and goods were scattered on the floor. Fortunately, there was not even a single cut on our feet. I reached my husband on the ground floor where he was searching for us. We jointly searched for our daughter but couldn’t find her. The hotel started to collapse. Whatever we held to, we could not hold it. I screamed and searched my daughter but couldn’t find. Our eyes were full of tears. Furniture and goods started falling towards us, so hopelessly we made our way out of the hotel. When we were out of the hotel, I saw a person holding my daughter’s hand. I felt that I got my life back. He handed over me my child who is 5 years old. To me he is like a god.
त्यतिखेर तपाईंलाई सब भन्दा महत्वपूर्ण कुरा (सरोकार) के लागेको थियो? (What were your most important concerns at that time?)
My family, specially my children.
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?)
No, I didn’t because each and everything was destroyed. I tried to call my parents at Baluwatar, but all the means of communications were cut off.
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).
Yes, the news media were helpful for keeping with the earthquake updates. I didn’t see the weaknesses of media as they played a crucial role in updating about the devastating earthquake and its impact on the general people.
भुकम्प पछिको हफ्ता कसरी बिताउनु भो? (Please describe how you spent the week following the quake– what you did, etc.).
On the 1st day of the quake at Sindhupalchowk, due to the destruction brought, we starved the whole day and night. The road was damaged with big cracks and big holes, and there was even a deadly landslide causing road blockage. That’s why we were unable to leave for Kathmandu on the very day. On the 2nd day, our driver took risk and drove us to Kathmandu. On the way, we all were nervous and voiceless. We saw many collapsed houses and people were confused, Along the highway, there were many tents. In my home at Sitapaila, there were few small cracks and things were scattered. My neighbors’ houses were badly cracked. We stayed in my home as it was a single storyed, newly built house.
त्यो हफ्ता तपाईंको सबैभन्दा स्मरणीय कुरा? (Any memorable facts or incidents during the week following the quake?)
A lot of incidents and miracles happened to me. I was never out of the Valley in my entire life; it was the first time we had planned for a family trip. Just before the earthquake we had visited Melamchi where we made a decision to see the Melamchi dam site, but the gate-keeper didn’t allow us inside as our group was large, 40 people in total. We requested for the entry several times but he still refused. Finally, he suggested that we take turns, in smaller numbers. But doing so would take a long time, so we cancelled the sightseeing at the dam site. We returned to the hotel after buying 10 kilos of traut fish, our snack for the day. Because of the gate-keeper’s denial, we were saved from the mouth of death, The visitors at the dam-site were later found dead in the quake. This I can never forget. It was the same week during the earthquake that we were desperately looking for our daughter and miraculously we were handed over our daughter by a man outside the hotel.
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?)
We should realize that our country lies in the earthquake zone so we should have safety measures to face such quakes in future too.
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.