‘I ran for my life through the streets of Kathmandu as another earthquake rocked the city’
Kathmandu-based journalist Bibek Bhandari gives a startling account of the panic in the Nepalese capital after another quake struck on Tuesday
Almost three weeks after the April 25 earthquake, despite more than 160 aftershocks, Nepal’s capital Kathmandu was slowly recovering from the tremors. Most residents had started to shift to their houses from the temporary tents and the chaotic city, otherwise deserted, was slowly gaining momentum.
Earlier, I had bumped into a friend at Café Mitra, a secluded restaurant in the tourist hub of Thamel. Over lunch we discussed her experience of the earthquake and talked about how young Nepalis have been helping communities in need.
We were interrupted by an initial thud, which we dismissed as an aftershock – in some strange way, we had become accustomed to these.
But seconds later the one-storey building began shaking severely. As we held to the staircase from the open rooftop, I saw the building in front swaying left and right and then crack. Below, some tourists dining at the restaurant rushed out – a half-finished meal and two glasses of beer left on the table.
All I could hear were screams and people directing each other to an open space. At that moment, I felt as if all my sensory organs had given up. Despite prior experience of the great quake and the disaster preparedness, I felt helpless, scared and at nature’s mercy. All I could think about was navigating an exit strategy from the concrete cluster.
Thamel is congested with tall buildings and narrow streets often clogged by cars. As I made my way out of this backpacker’s district, people were already rushing into open space – most of them gathered in an intersection oblivious to the fact it is surrounded by towering buildings on all sides.