The weather was cold. Schools were closed. The children’s were playing including my own brother, Gautam. I was sitting on our shop with my father. My mother was washing utensils.
I felt something shaking so did my father. Because of the cold weather my father thought I was shaking and he asked me to wear warm clothes. I had no idea what was happening until my mother told me it was an earthquake. The ground was shaking dangerously and we promptly ran out of the house and sat in the open space with hundreds of people. I couldn’t think nor could I breathe properly. I was full of emptiness. The scene was so frightening and scary. People were crying, running here and there to save themselves from dying. Some of them were shocked because of the sudden shaking or maybe it was the first experience for them too. One old woman passed by who was hit by the ladder of stupa on her head. The scene made us emotional.
“Look, the stupa is falling down”, said one boy who was sitting with us. The other boy showed us the collapsed house. It was so much hard to hide the tears. The shaking made the people orphan. The shaking stopped after few minutes. There were hits but less than it was before. The biggest stupa known as Manang Gumba collapsed too. It was totally hard to see the bizarre environment in front of us.
We were hungry. One couple, who live nearby, distributed milk tea to everyone. We ate biscuits and sat on the ground hoping the shaking would stop soon. The tea helped us a bit to control our hunger. I was sitting on the ground with a heavy heart when Bec came there with some of the girls. I got a warm hug and felt a lot better. They went back to the hostel and I stayed there on the ground. Everyone was busy calling their parents and relatives who were in villages. Some of them cried because their home was gone. Some lost their parents. The story was heart touching and very emotional.
It was almost 7 in the evening. People said that it wasn’t fair enough to sleep at houses for 24 hours. So everyone started making small places for them to sleep. But because my father was sick we slept at our own room. We ate beaten rice with boiled potato and went to bed. Though our eyes were closed we were wide awake. The shaking continued at night too. We barely slept as if the shaking was like a ghost. It was like a nightmare.
People say that the earthquake came after 82 years. The previous one was dangerous too. But this was the first experience. My country is naked at the moment. Many lost their lives. Many became orphan. There is no proper place to hide. Even the government doesn’t take any actions. Life has been bizarre. Hunger is increasing. How can people survive at such a critical moment? Is it the punish for our sin? But I don’t agree because I can see lots of innocent eyes here who don’t have anywhere to go but live in street. We could have fought if it was human’s doing but what can we do to god?
About Sabitri
Sabitri has completed studies in counselling and was working for Mitrataa Foundation.