That horrifying spectre of buildings hurtling across like pack of cards appears to have been permanently etched into his mind. The earth was shaking on April 25 when Surendra Singh, an MCA student, was checking out from his hotel in Kathmandu. He was among those thousands of people in Kathmandu who were screaming for their lives. Singh returned to Delhi in hale and hearty condition on Sunday.
“It was the last day of my visit. When I came down from my hotel room for breakfast in a restaurant, located near the hotel, I felt that the ground below my feet was moving. I saw people running helter-skelter and building crumbling. People screamed ‘earth is shaking’ and we all came out of the restaurant,” said Singh, adding “It was so fast and sudden that nobody knew what to do. It was hard to believe this was happening and unfolding before my eyes. A part of me died in that moment.”
“Big buildings were terribly swaying and there were cracks on the road. I somehow managed to run towards vacant area where people were standing and screaming for help. Many buildings lay flattened and there was thick blanket of dust over us. This all happened within a minute. It was a war zone. I saw some Army personnel near the Election Commission’s office and ran to them but situation was beyond their control,” Singh said.
Singh is pursuing MCA from a private college and lives with his parents at Jaipur’s Sikar Road. His father runs a shop of electronic items. Singh, who had gone Kathmandu on April 18, had his flight back to Delhi in the evening on fateful day. “Since my bag was still in my hotel I rushed to take it. But the path was blocked as debris were everywhere on the road. Some poles were fallen on vehicles. It was a terrible situation as I was all alone. In the meantime, another shake started which remained for 30 seconds. People were lying on ground to save themselves,” he further narrated.
“The tremors kept recurring but I had to take my bag from the hotel room, which was housed on the second floor. I ran into the hotel, took the bag and came out. This I will never forget, when I turned back… the first two floors were on the ground by then,” he said his voice trembling.