I landed in Kathmandu, Nepal on 22 Apr '15 to attend the
FIA Sport Regional Congress at Everest Hotel.
For the next few days, there were numerous interruptive power cuts. Some attendees of the congress were joking
among themselves, predicting when the next stoppage would occur. But none of us
would ever imagine the power cut on 25 Apr '15 to be so horrifying. It happened at 11:56 am, when the floor began
to tremble. This was followed by strong
sways causing people to panic and scream.
At that moment, I was in the hotel function hall together with more than
30 attendees from various countries. Many of them ran for the door
instantaneously while few of us crawled under the tables. In between the
panicky moments, all of us managed to get out of the hotel and we ran towards
the streets where vehicles have come to a halt and terrified locals were
everywhere.
At a nearby hospital, patients were evacuated from the
building for safety reason.
The tremors continued intermittently. At around 12:30 pm, our host from Nepal then
moved us away from the streets to an open ground behind the hotel.
We were grateful for snacks, drinks and chairs arranged
by our host. For the next few hours, we 'camped' at the open ground and, while
waiting for further instruction from our host, we talked with each other to
keep our worries at bay.
By 5:00 pm, it was getting dark and chilly. We were allowed to enter the hotel building
where the staff had checked and swept the debris aside.
All of us scrambled up the stairways to collect our
belongings from the rooms. Our host then
provided cars and rushed us to the airport.
Along the way, I witnessed more locals who feared for their own safety
and filled open spaces outside buildings.
Our driver had to pay extra attention to avoid the crack lines on the
roads!
The scene at the airport was no better. It was crowded, chaotic and, to our
disappointment, the terminal building was closed. (We later learnt from an unconfirmed
source that part of the runway may have been damaged.) Fortunately, our host managed to convince the airport
authority to allow us into the waiting lounge. Here's a picture of the deserted departure area.
Just as we felt a little more settled, a series of
aftershocks got us panicking again, particularly the ones at 1:00 am and 5:00
am. At 6:00 am, I stepped out of the
terminal building and saw thousands of people scattered around the airport
compound.
Meanwhile, we continued to experience more
aftershocks. Our host tried to bring us
breakfast but only managed to get drinking water and fruits - a clear sign that
the city is not operating business as usual.
Around 10:00 am, we were advised to have our luggages scanned by the
security at the departure gate so we could proceed to check in for our flight. There was hardly any control at the gate but
glad we managed to squeeze through.
As expected, we encountered further problems such as
delay at check-in counter and lack of information on flight gate, boarding
etc. But the main chaos must be the
strong aftershock which occurred at 1:00 pm measuring 6.7 on the Richter
Scale. Passengers ran for the tarmac and
waited in the open. With such large crowd and assortment of planes (both commercial and military), the scene at Tribhuvan International Airport could be mistaken as an Air Show.
To have to work in such conditions and handle the unusually
large volume of traffic, including airlifted aids from Singapore, India, US and other neighboring countries, the airport staff are truly commendable. My gratitude to our host Nepal Automobile
Sports Association - particularly to General Secretary Govinda, Secretary Sushil (see in below picture) and their fellow colleagues who
never failed to place our safety as priority.
May the people of Nepal find the strength and courage to
rebuild itself.
