उमेर (Age):
29
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 inside my home talking with my sister.
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).
Well, I don’t know if it was a coincident or what, but we were talking about earthquake some 15 min earlier. I felt a shake but my sister insisted it was because I was moving my legs. When we realized it was actually a quake, I rushed to pick up my sleeping daughter in the next room.
त्यतिखेर तपाईंलाई सब भन्दा महत्वपूर्ण कुरा (सरोकार) के लागेको थियो? (What were your most important concerns at that time?)
The most important concern was, of course, my daughter and family. However, I was worried about the home, too, as it was constructed 40-45 years back and couldn’t be trusted to be safe at that moment.
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 just wanted to know if everybody was safe or not. Actually, the phone was off so I couldn’t have access to the needed information during that period.
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).
Radio became very effective media besides online news. Television channels and newspapers were also effective but the fact was we had to stay in an open field where TV was not portable and had to wait until the next day for the information of earthquake to appear in newspapers. The strengths of these media I think are that they covered the various affected areas and regions, provided updates on the epicenter, magnitudes of the tremors, etc. However, media also helped to spread terror of the quake in some ways by focusing on images of the devastation in Kathmandu, and the exodus of so many people leaving Kathmandu out of fear.
भुकम्प पछिको हफ्ता कसरी बिताउनु भो? (Please describe how you spent the week following the quake– what you did, etc.).
I spent the week in uncertainty, dilemma and in terror, not inside my home, of course, but under a makeshift tent.
त्यो हफ्ता तपाईंको सबैभन्दा स्मरणीय कुरा? (Any memorable facts or incidents during the week following the quake?)
We had to leave the tent in midnight when there was heavy rainfall. One of my relatives had a newly born baby and it was hard to manage another safe place when the tent we had made started leaking.
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 be prepared for such a disaster as Nepal is a quake prone zone. We should construct earthquake resistant-buildings. We should test the foundation soil before construction and there should be open space around each residential area.
If you haven’t shared your testimonial on Nepal earthquake 2015, you can do so here.