Bernama's Stringer In Nepal Shares Harrowing Experience

By Yuba Nath Lamsal KATHMANDU (Nepal), April 29 (Bernama) -- When death came a-calling, I was quaking with fear as the ground under my feet began shaking violently for 51 harrowing seconds. I felt like the earth trembled for eternity. Then, there was this loud sound of a building collapsing. I just closed my eyes thinking, "This is it". While my neighbour's seven-storey house had toppled onto the road, killing 42 of its occupants, it was a miracle my small house was still standing. I feel like I have been re-born. I had virtually lost hope of surviving in my close shave with death when the Himalayan nation was struck by a 7.9 magnitude earthquake last Saturday. At the time, I was at home with my wife in Kapan, about 25km from downtown Katmandu. When the ground began trembling, I was on the ground floor of the house and quickly grabbed the nearest door for dear life. I had to grab the door hard to avoid losing my balance and falling. The whole house was swaying like a swing. My wife was trying to climb down the stairs and fell down. I was in no position to get to her, let alone stand without holding the door. The end has come for both of us, I thought. My only thoughts were of our son, who is currently in the United States. At the same time, I heard a big noise in the neighborhood and thought that our house was collapsing...I closed my eyes. The tremors suddenly ceased. My wife and I made our way out of the family house to our small compound, only to find ourselves trapped in a massive rubble of our neighbour's seven-story building! We realised that we had to get out fast, for fear that our own house might collapse to the ground, in the event of another powerful quake. The neighbours and the local community were terrific as they rescued us from the rubble after four hours of painstaking efforts. I was only slightly injured as I fell on the road. Only later, I was pained to learn that 42 of my neighbours were killed when the seven-storey building toppled. My two houses, the one in Kapan and the other in the countryside, about 250km from Kathmandu were damaged. Initially, I feared for the safety of my younger brother, Udaya Raj Lamsal, sister Deba Poudel, nephew Bidur Lamsal and his wife Anital Lamsal and their two children who went missing for two days. Fortunately, they were found safe and sound. My brother, Udaya Lamsal and another nephew Bidur Lamsal were injured and are undergoing treatment in hospital. I was so traumatised that for the past three days, I did not think of anything else except of that terrible event. Now, I am recovering from the shock. For the first few days after the quake, I was living in an open space as I feared to go inside the house. Currently, I am in one of my relatives' house and going on with my routine work and chores. An earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale struck Nepal between Kathmandu and Pokhara city at 2.56pm (Malaysian time) on Saturday, reported to be the worst in the last 81 years. The disaster has left more than 4,000 people dead and about 7,000 people injured. --BERNAMA