Mental Disaster away from home: Nepal Earthquake

Something didn’t feel right, I was kind of anxious and restless since the start of the day. I was in NICU in a Tertiary Centre in New Delhi.  Did feel nothing at the rounds. Came back to work on the computer, the staff told me, A big quake had hit Lamjung. Half worried, I asked him, what magnitude, reply was 7.5 Richter. I said it was close to Kathmandu . He told me there was big loss at Kathmandu. I rushed to duty room to watch the News.

“Kathmandu valley hit by Magnitude 7.9 Earthquake, Kathmandu valley Dusty ” was the Headline.

My legs got weak and I started to tremble. Since my childhood I had been told this was likely and it was all but a story till then. 7.9 was something unimaginable , something people back home have never seen and felt. My head was blank, and I tried calling home, Network was out of reach. It made me imagine the devastation and horrified me. I rushed to meet other Nepali Doctors working in the hospital. News had reached them, and he had felt the tremors at the 7th floor in the OT at New Delhi.  Everyone was terrified. Trying to get connected to Kathmandu, but useless.

• I took a leave and rushed room for Internet. A devastation.
• The Dharahara was gone.
• The Temple where we talked for hours under the shades of which we drank local tea, where I spent my years of college life, was down to dust at  Basantapur.
• The Kasthamandap the monument made of single tree, was rubble.
• The Narayan temple of thapathali, which was state-of art, was gone.
• The Peace that Boudhanath radiated around the area, was no more standing.
• Bhaktapur, Patan all the UNESCO heritage were history.

There was a mental devastation, an unexplainable loss, a numbing sorrow and worry.

Airport shut down, all transport cut out. It was followed by endless trying Calls, viber, FB messages. Finally got in contact back home. Some relief but earth would let us be relieved.

All day and night, the aftershocks were continuing. Every people I talked felt that it was the Doomsday. Each time we called someone back home, between talks was an aftershock. So whole night restless, mentally destroyed, Morally lamed surfing the internet for updates. Refreshing the Earthquake recent updates pages all night.

Next day, Another quake was felt at Delhi. There was a hoax of next big quake. We were running down but inside our mind and souls were broken to pieces. We tried calling back at Kathmandu, no contact, another 6.9 R hat hit Kathmandu. There were News of losses, destruction and the rescue operations going on.

Gutless leaders were hiding at the safest places, People were at open grounds at night, Mother nature was Cruel to shower rain in the early spring, temperatures were freezing. What people had endured back home was all in our minds.

We booked the earliest possible ticket, 3rd day we were going home, and a sort of relief. What came to my mind was, I ‘d rather face the doom back at Homeland. Next they we were flying over Nepal, extremely cloudy and from height the scenes of destruction were visible around the valley. To add up to the stress, Rescue planes and helicopers were given priority and we were stranded in the clouds for long. First hour was fine , on the second our we had made almost 12 rounds in air, women started sobbing and in the third hour, there was horrible sense of depression, uncertainty and worry .

Finally we were permitted to land. It was like escaping death and entering the death zone, tremors were still coming. People were out in tents. Kathmandu had resisted the Megaquake but it had left the minds of people shattered for years to come.

Alive and Praying!