an earthquake experience

25 April 2015

12 Baisakh 2072 B. S.

Saturday, 11. 56 a. m.

We had already finished ‘Iam’ process of 30 IELTS candidates by checking out their passports carefully and taking their photos. It was the turn of the 31^st , the last, candidate who had already taken her position on the chair. Rijendra, my colleague, was ready to take her photograph. He was on my right, sitting on a chair, looking at the candidate through the lens of the camera. Rabin, the exam supervisor from Kathmandu, was assisting Rijendra from his right. I had just finished entering her passport number in the ‘Iam’ software in the laptop so that Rijendra could take her photograph. Mohan, another colleague, sitting on a chair on my left, was checking the details of the passport with the British Council record of the details of the candidate.

Suddenly, I felt the ground under my feet trembling. First, it was a very powerful jerk. I looked at Mohan’s legs to check if he was shaking or tapping them. He wasn’t. Then, the second jerking shook my hands that were on the keyboard of the laptop. Rijendra shrieked, “It might be an earthquake!”

By then, the devastating earthquake had already begun. I signaled Mohan to get up and run, but he seemed puzzled. When the tremor became powerful and the ground under my feet started shaking vigorously, I hid myself under the table where I was working at. I held the legs of the table tightly and knelt down in a crouching position. The tremor remained for more than a minute. I heard the IELTS candidates screaming and running out. Some of them came under the table where I was taking shelter and remained crouching until the shock was gone. While the tremor was continuous, I could hear the horrifying sounds of people’s screaming and things falling around me. To the end, I felt as if I were a baby in a moving cot. When I got up and came out of the table, I saw a big long speaker that was hanging in the eastern corner of the hall had dropped down. Luckily, there was no more damage.

I came out of the hall and found a crowd of people at the front yard of the hotel. Not only the IELTS candidates but also the oculists, who were from Biratnagar and Australia for a seminar at a hall on the fourth floor of Xenial Hotel that day, had gathered there. They were all excited and talking to each other loudly. I was worried about my family and tried to contact my wife and my mom. The phone was disconnected. My whole body was shaking with fear. An Indo-Australian doctor (I forgot his name) who looked very light-hearted was cracking jokes with everybody around.

We were to go to the exam hall on the fourth floor of the hotel after completing the ‘Iam’ process of IELTS examination. Luckily, the hall which we used to have for the job on previous occasions was booked by the doctors for their programme that day, and we were doing our job on the ground floor. Shashi Mandal, another colleague, was the only person looking after the exam hall at the moment when the earthquake began. She arrived at the hotel yard in a great rush, almost jumping. She was terribly horrified.

I was very much anxious to contact my wife and mom, but the phone was not working. Then, somebody gave us information that Dharahara, the historic tower built by Bhimsen Thapa, the first Prime Minister of Nepal, almost two centuries before had collapsed. I guessed that some casualties might have taken place in Kathmandu. Then, somebody again said almost all the temples and historical monuments in Bhaktapur had collapsed due to earthquake. Now I could realize that something really terrible had taken place in the nation. We waited for the bad news. Finally, I could contact my wife and my mom at home and felt relieved knowing that everything was fine at home.

As the people in the hotel yard were sharing information and hearing to each other, another powerful tremor began. All the people began screaming out of fear. I rushed toward the yard for safety in open place, but it was only a short wave and the tremor faded out very soon.

The phone was dead. Rabin had been trying to contact the admins in Kathmandu unsuccessfully waiting for their decision about the IELTS exams.

Almost at 2 pm, Rabin said the Indian authority from the British Council, New Delhi, had ordered him to conduct the exams. He told us to be ready for it, but most of the candidates seemed unwilling to sit for the exam. We four invigilators were also tormented by the earthquake so much. Another hour passed while Rabin tried to contact the Kathmandu authority. At last, he informed them that the situation was not fovourable for conducting the examination. Finally, the exam was cancelled.

My stomach was empty and I felt the pangs of hunger in it. I went to the hotel canteen after Rabin and I had finished discussing the report writing of the day. While waiting for the special chicken sekuwa, we watched various channels on TV and realized how serious the situation was because the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had already announced the relief package for the earthquake victims. The Indian and Nepali channels like Zee News, India TV and Kantipur TV had started showing the footages of the damage. Then, I felt the need to rush home as soon as possible.

Though the vehicles were very scantily moving along the road, I didn’t drive at more than 40-45 kilometres per hour. Another tremor could begin anytime soon, so safety was very important at the moment. All the way from Biratnagar to Itahari I felt the ground shaking.

When I arrived home in the evening, my family members almost cried when they saw me.