It was a gloomy day. The Himalayan sky was overcast with dark, heavy clouds.
Dr Zareen Khair, Bangladesh country manager of the Fred Hollows Foundation (FHF), decided to utilise her last day in Kathmandu and do a bit of sightseeing.
She, along with some colleagues, went to Nepal on April 19 for a regional meeting, which was held on April 20 – 24 at a resort in Dhulikhel, some 30 kilometre south-west of Kathmandu.
Since there was no flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines on April 25, Dr Zareen and her colleagues decided to check into a hotel at Kathmandu and spend a day exploring the city before flying back on April 26.
Their choice of accommodation, Hotel Shanker, is a historic luxury hotel situated at the heart of Kathmandu. The hotel started in 1964 at its famous neoclassical building dating back to 1894.
On April 25, Zareen decided to go near the China border and explore the landscapes. She was to be picked up at 4 in the morning but the driver did not show up on time. One of her colleagues from Australia asked if she was upset that the tour got cancelled.
Zareen replied in negative. “There is a saying in Bangla ‘Whatever the Almighty does, does it for a good reason’. So I am not upset,” she added.
Instead she decided to venture out on her own. The sky was getting darker with a high possibility of a heavy downpour.
“I got out at 11:45am. As soon as I hit the main road, the ground started to shake vehemently all of a sudden. Initially, my reaction was that it was not an earthquake. I thought the vibration was caused by subway trains.”
“I asked a security guard if there was a subway line beneath the ground. He gave me a perplexed look and started running.”
“Again there was a big tremor and I was about to fall.”
A man held her from behind. She asked him in English: “What is happening?”
He replied in one word: “Bhumikombh!”
“It was only then that I realised what was going on.”
Both of them sat down on the middle of the road and witnessed scenes from films unfolding before them.
“Some of the houses started falling apart. The big windowpanes began to crack and shatter with loud bangs. A crack suddenly bifurcated the road they were crouching on in the middle.”
“I was scared stiff when the street gaped open as if ready to devour me. I started saying my prayers.”
“Although the main tremor lasted for about a minute or two, it felt like an eternity.”
She could hear sounds of catastrophe – buildings cracking, houses collapsing and people shouting for help – coming from afar.
She sat on the road for about an hour. There were 10 to 15 aftershocks one after another. Slowly she got up and managed to walk back to the hotel.
She noticed the boundary walls of the hotel had collapsed along with the top part of the hotel. The century old pillars also developed big cracks.
The hotel manager did not let her into the building and asked her to join other guests at the courtyard where there was a swimming pool. Because of the quake, half of the pool water came up and splashed on the lawn.
Though no guest was injured, they were tired, scared and sick. Meanwhile, aftershocks continued to happen.
They could not get any information as to what has happened since communication was also disrupted. One hotel guest said the earthquake was a big one with a magnitude of seven.
“We spent the night at the courtyard. There was an umbrella beside the pool. We tried to convert it into a tent. The swimming pool had a shower room which we used.”
“But we could not sleep a bit for the whole night. It was one of the most dreadful nights since we did not know what was coming.”
The morning of April 26 started with shocking news of devastation all around Kathmandu. But it also brought relief for Zareen who, around 9:30am, was taken to the airport on a private vehicle since no taxi was available.
The roads between the hotel and the airport were open and traffic had continued to flow throughout. But she could not make out the extent of destruction from the snippets seen from the road.
“When I went to the airport, it was in an utter chaos with so many people trying to board whatever flight they could avail to escape the country.”
Zareen’s scheduled return flight of Bangladesh Biman was supposed to arrive at 3pm. But the flight was turned away as it did not get permission to land. The airport was already struggling to operate.
She was afraid that she might be stranded at the airport like the hundreds of other people. Basis facilities, like water, food, sanitation, at the airport were also running short.
Suddenly she was informed that a rescue team from Bangladesh Air Force had arrived with relief goods for the earthquake victims. But there were only 35 seats, which were reserved for the Under-14 girls’ football team who came for a tournament.
Luckily a few more seats became available after boarding the football team. Zareen and few other women were allowed to board.
The weather was still dark with continuous raining making the return flight in a non-passenger aircraft extremely difficult.
“But thanks to the expert Air Force pilot, the flight landed safely in Dhaka at 9pm.”
“It was the Almighty God who sheltered us. None of the participants had a scratch. But we all are going through trauma. Every time something shakes, I am instantly reminded of the horrible experience. ”
“Yes, it will be difficult and will take us some time to get back to our normal life.”