Peoria couple experience Nepal quake
More than a year ago, I booked a trip for Del May and me to India and Nepal in April of this year. It was with a tour group and included eight days in India — including stays in New Delhi, Jaipur and Agra — and six days in Nepal. Little did we know what was in store. We had a great time in India. While in New Delhi we visited Jama Masjid, the largest mosque in the country; took a rickshaw ride along the lanes of Chandni Chowk market and visited Humayun’s Tomb and the Gandhi Smriti, where Mahatma Gandhi spent the last 144 days of his life. It’s now a museum.
The days we spent in Jaipur included sightseeing in the “Pink City” and a visit to the Qutub Minar Victory Tower. We spent time at the Amber Fort, arriving by elephant. We also took in the 18th-century Jantar Mantar observatory.
On the way to Agra, we stopped at the ancient village of Abhaneri to see Chand Baori, one of the largest step wells in India. And what would a trip to India be without a visit to the Taj Mahal?
Next, we flew from New Delhi to Kathmandu to start our Nepalese adventure. It was Friday night, April 24, and we began with a traditional Nepalese dinner, including singing and dancing. The next morning, our tour began with a change of schedule.
Because it was cloudy, the tour director decided to postpone the trip to Nagarkot for a view of the Himalaya until later in the day. Instead, we began with a visit to Boudhanath, the largest stupa (shrine) of its kind in the world. This Buddhist monument is from the fifth century and has hundreds of prayer wheels.
This decision may have saved our lives.
At about noon, we were on a bus heading to the Himalaya when the earthquake began.
The ground started shaking and traffic came to a standstill. Everyone seemed to be in shock, not knowing what to do. After several minutes of violent shakes, the worst seemed to be over and everyone started to talk about what had just happened. We could see the cloud of dust in the mountains where the quake had demolished villages. We found out later that we were 50 miles from the epicenter of the 7.8-magnitude earthquake.
Traffic eventually started to move, and many vehicles turned around to go back the way they came. As our bus inched forward, we saw where the asphalt had cracked and dropped significantly, making the road impassable. We turned around, too, with plans to return to our hotel. Unaware of the extent of the quake, we saw demolished buildings everywhere. Temples and mosques that had been standing that morning were now piles of bricks. People were in the streets with nowhere to go.
Upon arriving at our hotel, we saw it had been evacuated. People were standing on the grassy grounds, waiting for information. We spent the better part of the next three days in a makeshift camp on the hotel grounds. We were fortunate, with a very good hotel and very good travel agency, to be well taken care of. We felt fortunate to have shelter, plenty of water and food and access to limited toilet facilities. That was more than the general population had.
Many people did not know the status of their families or homes for the next few days. Phone service was out, electricity was out (the hotel had a generator) and water was out (the hotel pumped water from the pool). We were allowed to climb up five dark flights of stairs — four people at a time — to retrieve our belongings from the hotel. We prayed that an aftershock did not come at that time.
Finally, on April 28, we were on our way to the airport. We saw tents and tem- porary shelters lining the streets. Many homes were lost or damaged.
Even after all that, we feel fortunate to have met wonderful people in Nepal. Our hearts go out to them, having lost their homes, mosques and temples. They will have significant challenges in rebuilding their country.