Tapping away at my laptop I knew immediately - it was an earthquake!
It has become my habit when living and traveling in Asia to bolt my door from the inside where possible to ward against the unscrupulous should I fall asleep, and with tremors of a 7.9 earthquake now vibrating through my first floor room with increasing violence, I launched myself off the bed toward the door snatching at the slim mechanism locking me in my room. The small metal nub I had to grab in order to slide the bolt free kept slipping between my thumb and fore finger as the guesthouse started to toss me from side to side. I put myself in a three quarter crouch securing my mass against the floor and the building’s violent dance - with the third attempt my fingers gripped and pulled the bolt free releasing the door.
My first floor room openned out toward reception where I saw Deepa a young staff member sat frozen with fear. “RUN. EARTHQUAKE!” I yelled at her, but she seemed not to hear me, she just looked straight ahead stuck to her chair. I yelled at the young woman again as I made my way to the top of the stairs that was my escape, she sat un-moving. In hindsight I should have grabbed her, but my sense of self preservation was extreme.
The two flights of ten stairs had to be descended to get me to a corridor leading outside, and with the building now protesting violently I only managed the first flight before a wall slapped my right shoulder sending me falling to the bottom of the second series of steps, my right knee taking the weight as it hit the concrete.
I lifted myself into a sprinter’s ‘starter” position at the base of the stairs in a state of heightened awareness I’ve not experienced before - my knee hurt. I could see down the corridor to the open door outside six or seven metres away. Bricks, pot plants and concrete debris fell into the skinny Thamel lane in front of me. Fuck!! Almost instantly I decided to take my chance outside rather than risk being buried under the rubble of my guesthouse should it collapse which seemed a very real possibility. I dashed into the daylight pausing with just enough time to glance upward should I need to avoid more falling objects as I got into the lane.
And just like that, it stopped, the ground stood still. The slight swaying of electrical cables that snaked their way overhead down the lane could have been from a strong wind if you kept your eyes focused skyward - move your gaze downward to the lane way road however, and it was very obvious what had just happened with cracks running through buildings, the roadway strewn with broken bricks, concrete and people running terrified looking for open sky. Thamel with its crammed space of poorly constructed buildings was not the place to be. I knew the integrity of the buildings had been effected and an aftershock was coming, I ran.
Not knowing how long the first aftershock would take to arrive I legged it to an open planned restaurant perhaps thirty metres away. Here I knew the space was relatively free from danger as the surrounding buildings were low and there was a huge area of open sky above far from within a building’s drop zone. There was also a huge tree at its centre, the massive girth of its trunk ideal to baracade myself against with a table should I need to. I wasn’t the only person with this idea.
Tom was from California and this wasn’t his first rodeo. When I met him he’d already put a table at the ready against the tree and was compiling a list of things he would need as he was going to “bug out” on a flat piece of land outside Kathmandu after the initial aftershocks had passed. Tent, food, water, batteries....the list went on.
There were others at the restaurant. A monk stood shaking uncontrollably, local women and children huddled in fear crying under tables, a group of Japanese women seemed relatively unaffected, some Australians kept drinking with the word "fark" being repeatedly used and stoic staff kept serving. Ten minutes later the aftershock came through.
It’s a bizarre phenomenom to see and feel the ground roll and undulate like thick water as liquefaction takes effect under you. It’s all very sureal and frightening. As the aftershock hit,me and Tom dived against the tree pulling the table over us. The poor monk was so distressed he just stood there crying, women and children screamed still huddled under the tables, one of the Australians could be heard saying “Fuck sakes”, the Japanese girls were alert but calm and the staff froze in their positions. The sound of deep rumbling and falling debris again assaulted us all.
When the shaking subsided one of the staff pointed behind us where two stone towers in the distance once dominated the skyline to the west. They were gone replaced by red dust. A building immediately adjacent to the restaurant had a three inch crack that ran the complete length of one of its walls. The air was full of the cries and panic of Nepalese people. It seemed to me they were far more traumatized by the event than others. I watched with interest as the monk sat crossed legged and entered into a meditative state and ccomposed himself.
I thought now of my belongings in the guesthouse that lay open to anyone who would like to take them, but wondered how I’d get up the courage to enter the building. What happened to Deepa the receptionist at my guesthouse. is my guesthouse still standing. I had to get out of Thamel, NOW!!
To be continued.
My Earthquake Story
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Looking forward to the next installment.
I just found out that the school I founded there is still standing, but one small girl was killed in the quake (I think at her home rather than at the school but I'm not sure). RIP
I just found out that the school I founded there is still standing, but one small girl was killed in the quake (I think at her home rather than at the school but I'm not sure). RIP
I came, I argued, I'm out
My guesthouse was still there as was Deepa sitting on the outside step. I asked why she didn’t run. She didn’t know. Also sitting outside were a young English couple, the girl obviously distressed. They had been on the fourth floor of the guesthouse when the earthquake hit which must have accentuated the experience and fear considerably.
None of us wanted to re-enter the building in case another one hit while we were inside and the huge crack that now ran the full length across the base of the guesthouse reinforced our fear. However, with there being no way any of us were going to sleep indoors tonight we all needed our money, phones and clothes - we had to go up.
Another aftershock rolled through and the English guy looked at his watch - he was timing the gap between them. His idea struck me as a good one. Stay outside for a couple of hours and if the shocks were separated by ever increasing periods we could pick our time and run the gauntlet perhaps. We understood with every aftershock, the integrity of the structure would be further compromised.
After an hour the aftershocks were considerably smaller and at lengthier intervals so we agreed that after the next tremor, we would make the dash upstairs to retrieve our belongings. Fifteen minutes later we ran into the building.
If you’ve been to Thamel you know how dark and claustrophobic some guesthouses can be, especially when there’s no power. Running into the darkness of the guesthouse created more fear in me than the initial quake - having more time to consider the danger, I guess. I leaped three stairs at a time until I reached my door which stood wide open. I saw my laptop, searched out my money belt and threw everything else into my small backpack - again grateful for traveling light.
I made my way downstairs as fast as I could and waited for the young English couple who weren’t long behind, both of them forced to leave many items behind as they had strewn their clothes and belongings all over their room unpacking the day before - their packs were enormous.
I then noticed every single shutter and door closed in the lane, and as the three of us started walking through Thamel toward the football field, we realized Thamel and Kathmandu at large had in an instant shut down, except for the taxis that were now full of travelers desperate to get out, the taxi roofs laden down heavily with backpacks as they headed toward the airport. I saw no reason to go to the airport as I had no ticket out, and if memory served me correctly, there was no facility available at the terminal itself to actually purchase a ticket. Added to that, Kathmandu airport would ave been complete mayhem with thousands of people descending on the small terminal that wasn’t designed to deal with so many people.
As we meandered our way through the lanes it became obvious that we were lucky. We saw one large hotel completely in ruin surrounded by army personel and realized many dead were buried in the rubble. A short distance further a guesthouse had collapsed with more dead within its ruin. The lanes, roads and pavements were cracked,walls demolished, buildings falling against each other, power poles lay on the ground, concrete debris lay all around......It was becoming apparent this was major disaster.
Heading out of Thamel onto the main roads revealed thousands of people cramming the thoroughfares, most in shock and disbelief.
The night was long with tremors continuing underneath the hard surface we tried to sleep on in the the field. Rain fell intermittently making us all cold and wet, but we weren’t complaining.
The following day I went to the Australian embassy and those days are documented in the “I’m In Kathmandu Now” thread.
This is my earthquake story and I’d be quite pleased to have the occasion only once in my lifetime to experience such an event .
None of us wanted to re-enter the building in case another one hit while we were inside and the huge crack that now ran the full length across the base of the guesthouse reinforced our fear. However, with there being no way any of us were going to sleep indoors tonight we all needed our money, phones and clothes - we had to go up.
Another aftershock rolled through and the English guy looked at his watch - he was timing the gap between them. His idea struck me as a good one. Stay outside for a couple of hours and if the shocks were separated by ever increasing periods we could pick our time and run the gauntlet perhaps. We understood with every aftershock, the integrity of the structure would be further compromised.
After an hour the aftershocks were considerably smaller and at lengthier intervals so we agreed that after the next tremor, we would make the dash upstairs to retrieve our belongings. Fifteen minutes later we ran into the building.
If you’ve been to Thamel you know how dark and claustrophobic some guesthouses can be, especially when there’s no power. Running into the darkness of the guesthouse created more fear in me than the initial quake - having more time to consider the danger, I guess. I leaped three stairs at a time until I reached my door which stood wide open. I saw my laptop, searched out my money belt and threw everything else into my small backpack - again grateful for traveling light.
I made my way downstairs as fast as I could and waited for the young English couple who weren’t long behind, both of them forced to leave many items behind as they had strewn their clothes and belongings all over their room unpacking the day before - their packs were enormous.
I then noticed every single shutter and door closed in the lane, and as the three of us started walking through Thamel toward the football field, we realized Thamel and Kathmandu at large had in an instant shut down, except for the taxis that were now full of travelers desperate to get out, the taxi roofs laden down heavily with backpacks as they headed toward the airport. I saw no reason to go to the airport as I had no ticket out, and if memory served me correctly, there was no facility available at the terminal itself to actually purchase a ticket. Added to that, Kathmandu airport would ave been complete mayhem with thousands of people descending on the small terminal that wasn’t designed to deal with so many people.
As we meandered our way through the lanes it became obvious that we were lucky. We saw one large hotel completely in ruin surrounded by army personel and realized many dead were buried in the rubble. A short distance further a guesthouse had collapsed with more dead within its ruin. The lanes, roads and pavements were cracked,walls demolished, buildings falling against each other, power poles lay on the ground, concrete debris lay all around......It was becoming apparent this was major disaster.
Heading out of Thamel onto the main roads revealed thousands of people cramming the thoroughfares, most in shock and disbelief.
The night was long with tremors continuing underneath the hard surface we tried to sleep on in the the field. Rain fell intermittently making us all cold and wet, but we weren’t complaining.
The following day I went to the Australian embassy and those days are documented in the “I’m In Kathmandu Now” thread.
This is my earthquake story and I’d be quite pleased to have the occasion only once in my lifetime to experience such an event .
"That was probably Londo...He is always shitty." - Marvin
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thanks for the story
i have been in touch with a few friends,
one lost his gh in Thamel and the others were lucky with only minor damage
Nepal will recover as the Nepalis are very strong.
Still a year after the tsunami we got few tourist here and would imagine Nepal will be quiet for at least till next fall
i have been in touch with a few friends,
one lost his gh in Thamel and the others were lucky with only minor damage
Nepal will recover as the Nepalis are very strong.
Still a year after the tsunami we got few tourist here and would imagine Nepal will be quiet for at least till next fall
"We are turning into a nation of whimpering slaves to Fear—fear of war, fear of poverty, fear of random terrorism, or suddenly getting locked up in a military detention camp on vague charges of being a Terrorist sympathizer." HST
Top posting OP!
"Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach. Those who can't teach, teach English."
Credit Jacked Camry & LTO
Credit Jacked Camry & LTO
Good read, I enjoyed it. Had a laugh at the Japanese people not being phased.
Reckless driving cucumber - 成
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