Jayrajsinh Chavda - Official Blog

I was in Nepal to shoot a documentary for a psytrance music festival. On the 24th of April, 2015 I reached kathmandu. The hotel I was staying at was next to kathmandu durbar Square. 

On the morning of the earthquake, lot of hippies and dance music lovers from all around the world gathered at thamel to catch a bus to himalayan height resort, haatiban which was the venue for the festival. Festival was already delayed, but the people still had that mood to party. The bus was moving ahead with loud music and suddenly we were interrupted. The earth was shaking. At first, we had no idea what was going on but the continuous shakes made us realize it was an earthquake. It lasted about 30 seconds. I noticed everyone was coming out from buildings and running around, tall buildings were turning into rubble. I didn't panic, thought lots of people around us did. After the shaking stopped, people were shocked but it was necessary to get out of the affected area so bus moved ahead and get to an open space. We were safe in the bus but we were close enough to feel the fear. The roads were damaged and there were also cases of land sliding so we didn’t go ahead without making sure that the road ahead is safe. 

We were in Kathmandu city area for only a short period of time after the earthquake so we didn’t see too much of a response from the city and locals at the time. Once the earthquake occurred we could see everyone huddled in open fields and on the streets.

We took 2-3 breaks in between and we reached the mountains. The venue was 5 km up in the hill. Everyone took a deep breath for a while and got ready to reach up on the mountain. With all the bags and luggage everyone moved on towards their calling. Upon reaching the venue, people got to know that festival is cancelled due to earthquake. But organizers had the possession of venue so they said everyone not to leave and stay at the camp at the pine forest. People started pitching their tents, those who had come without tents, were provided a tent. 

Connectivity was a big issue, we tried calling immediately after the quake but our mobile phones had no reception. Our phones were useless once the battery was down and it was difficult to find a place to charge them. The internet was up for a short while after the earthquake which was critical for us to get in touch with our family, but once it went offline we had to rely on telephones. And telephones on the mountains were not working. 

After 3 Days I found someone whose phone was working on the mountains, on a request he let me use his phone to call Indian embassy. Embassy official asked me to reach the airport. Gas stations were non-operational so a lot of taxis and other vehicles were of no use. Somehow I managed to join a bus with our fellow campers to the airport. the reality was totally different from what I heard in the news. When I reached airport I saw lot of people were left stranded, wanting to go back to their country. airport was jam-packed with tourists from all around the world. The chaos was enough for me to understand the situation. Thousands of people from different countries were waiting in separate, long-winding queues for evacuation, the line to get in for Indian nationals, which looked like it had more than 3,000 people, was snaking all the way out to the entrance of the airport. There were people who had been in that queue since last three days. I also joined the queue with a hope to catch a rescue flight but unfortunately the queue wasn’t moving at all and people were really pissed off. Upon asking the officials they said there are no flights coming from India, flights are not coming because of bad weather conditions etc. more than 2000 people stranded for 4 days without food, water and shelter. Many of them were beaten by Nepalese police as well, I was one of them. There were no network connectivity but I was getting WiFi signals from somewhere so i just informed one of my friend in Gujarat and asked if she could help anyway, she given me some numbers of Indian embassy officials. Then I spoke to one of the embassy officials, asked about the next rescue flight, officer replied she has no idea and she don’t have any schedule. Then I opened my bag, grabbed my camera and started taking videos of the situation. After some time, a group of Nepalese police and military came to me and told me to do not shoot there. Respectively, I stopped filming and joined the queue again. 12 at the night they said you all may go as there are no flights. People were getting panic and i had nothing better to do so i kept on filming the scene. check out video to know the ground reality. This video is a testimony of the plight of stranded Indian nationals at Tribhuvan International Airport, Kathmandu, Nepal.

after 5 days of continuous efforts, I got a reply from Indian embassy of kathmandu. but it was worthless because i already got my ticket booked for commercial flight to India. Most of the people who waited for four days, realized that waiting in this queue obediently would be pointless. So they left airport and took a train or bus.

Authority and organization is critical in disaster situations – for example, when the military was distributing food and water in the airport, everything was a free-for-all. I didn’t even have a chance to get food; people were pushing and shoving like a riot so I didn’t even bother. The problem I found was that we didn’t need the food and water as much as those living in the villages that lost everything – including drinking water - so it should have been given to them. It made little sense to give the resources to those that were leaving the country.

I stayed at Kathmandu International airport for five days, during that time at the airport, aftershocks kept occurring, spreading fresh bouts of panic every now and then. I am thankful to a couple who donated me a tent. Also thankful to all my friends and relatives in India, for their constant efforts, support and love.

                                                                                                                                                     

I look at life a bit differently now knowing how that one event has changed us. It still shocks me how much destruction had occurred. I look back at the photos of durbur square I just took a day before earthquake hit, and the photos of the rubble that now sit there. I guess it scared me because I was there just 24 hours before the earthquake. Life is miracle.