It was on 25th April 2015. I had to buy some school
uniform requirements for my Son. The school was expected to start from May 27th. I
was in Mangal Bazar (Patan Durbar Square, Lalitpur) with my wife, 7 years son, and 2 and a
half years daughter. We bought white and black shoes and other items in Magal
Bazar. We were walking towards Lagankhel from Mangal Bazar. This path has very
old houses constructed from bricks and mud. At about 11:55 AM suddenly the
ground started to shake. We quickly ran near the open space over there which was
the center of a crossroad. The intensity of the shake grew up. I saw a man who was
in his motorcycle was hit by the falling bricks. The motorcycle fell down in the road and
the man woke up and ran from there. I think because of the helmet he was
wearing he was lucky and he survived. He may have injuries in his body. During that time, I saw very
old buildings moving like a swing. The house just in front of us was moving
here and there and I thought it would fall and the debris come near us but
except some cracks, nothing happened to that house. I also saw, dust coming from
one side. I turned my head and found rubble coming in the road from a falling
house. I couldn’t see the falling house because it was hidden by another house.
The intensity of the earthquake was so large that I
could not balance myself. My son was crying and my wife was praying by saying "God
save us". But my innocent daughter was amazed by all the things going on at
that time. Peoples were screaming. Some are telling others to be safe. Some
females were crying. I also saw a woman with a small child on her lap.
Initially, the tremor was small but I felt increasing very intensity then again
it slowed down and again increased heavily. I felt the increasing and slowing
of the tremor for three times. As it slowed down for the final time I felt I
was in a boat moving side by side. The earthquake remained for about a minute.
After the quack stopped I tried to call my brother-in-law who was at home
when we were out. The network was not working. I tried to call some more persons but none of the numbers was working. At that same time, I got a call from my elder
brother-in-law from Pokhara. I told him that we are ok but could not contact his brother (my younger brother-in-law).
After the quake stopped I was planning to go to my
home in Nakhipot very quickly. I was thinking about what had happened to my house. I
had built the house will all my earnings and selling my parental properties. I
am still paying my loans for that house. Then we walked towards Lagankhel where
I had parked my motorcycle. When we were about to reach Langnkhel we again
felt another tremor of high intensity. This time we were at least in the middle
of the road and houses are little far apart. We stayed there in the middle of
the road for a moment. This time the shaking was not as big as it was than that of the first
time but was strong. Then I started my motorcycle and we moved towards our
house. On the road we saw many fallen down compound walls. Because I was hurried to reach my house quickly I did not notice more things on the road.
When we reached Milan chowk, a place which is very near
to my house, I noticed that my motorcycle was losing balance. Then I stepped
my left leg and stopped my motorcycle. I asked my wife and children to get off from
the motorcycle. We waited there until the tremor stopped. After the quack
stopped we moved quickly from there. When we reached our house then my
friend/neighbor Sharad and his family were staying in an open place near our house. I
stopped my motorcycle and stayed there with him. Just after I stopped my motorcycle and stayed there a big quack again started. The land started shaking and
we heard some unusual sound. The land was shaking like a boat in the water. We
stayed there for some time but the land was moving again and again because of
many aftershocks. During that time I tried to call different persons but could not succeed. At first, I called my Mother in my village, near Pokhara but could
not connect. I called my sister's landline number and knew that they were safe in
Pokhara. Later my mother called from a CDMA number from my cushions house. There
was no problem in my old house build by my father and no casualty in my family
and relatives.
After an hour of staying there, I went to a point near
my house, from where we can see Bhainsepati. It is a new housing area with many
new houses. But it is also a place with many old houses made of brick and mud.
I saw two houses converted to rubble. People were trying to remove the debris
from those houses. Later I heard that two men died in that Incident. Even after that disaster, some radios were still on the operation. On the radio, we heard that Dharara had fallen down but the casualty was not known at
that time. After that, we observed that the aftershocks of the earthquake were not occurring for a long time. Then I thought to observe my house. I entered my house
and observed every corner of the house if any cracks were there. I did not find
any cracks but some items were fallen on the ground. Later, found that the
concrete of my parking area inside the gate was little gone down and little
crack in the place where this area was connected to the building. I was
relieved and thanked God my shelters were safe.
Many aftershocks came that day so my wife and children
didn’t want to sleep in our house that day. We slept in a nearby hut constructed by
GI sheets. That day we felt a lot of shocks in the night. Many news came on the radio
giving the number of casualties. The electricity lines had stopped providing the
electricity but Nepal telecom’s telephone was working even though we had to
dial for a lot of time. My world link’s Internet connection was working even
after the earthquake. Saw a lot of devastating photos in online media and
social media. Listening to the news of the devastating quake and looking at
pictures of fallen houses and dying people I could not hold my mind. The death
toll reached more than 8000 lives and 200 thousand houses were damaged. Many
old monuments, temples, palaces of kings, historical monuments were turned to
dust. Because of the RCC structure, many residential buildings in town were not
damaged except few cracks but in the villages, there was nothing in the affected
zone. But the house constructed with bricks and mud were turned down to
rubbles. It was a great loss for Nepali people and the reconstruction will take a huge amount of money and time.
The next day we were staying in the same hut in the day
time. At about 12:55 pm suddenly a very big earthquake shook the ground. We were
so frightened. The house in front of us was shaking in a to and fro motion.
After that day may aftershocks occurred. On 12th may at about 12:50 pm the
earth was shivering again. I was in my office and suddenly my chair started to
shake. Then I with some other persons who were in my office moved to the open space
before my office building. After that big aftershock, many other smaller shocks were
shacking the ground again and again.
