My husband Amit, daughter Samara and I were all in different places when the earthquake struck. Samara, who is six, was being looked after by my mother-in-law at our house while my husband and I were at a football match between different NGOs. I had just left the arena with a colleague to get some snacks from a small bakery outside. My husband stayed behind. Then, it hit us. It was something I had never experienced before. We have had earthquakes but not of this magnitude. We just had to run for safety. We couldn't understand what was going on and we couldn't do anything - we just had to wait. It was several minutes before the shaking stopped and we got the courage to go back to the arena.
It was so chaotic. We could already see that lots of walls had collapsed and some cars had been completely destroyed. We were getting more anxious and scared. We rushed back to the arena and I frantically searched for my husband. Luckily I found him, and the next thing was to go back home to our daughter. Everybody was worrying about their children. The lines were down so we couldn't call them. As we reached home my daughter had been crying - she was so scared because we hadn't been able to be with her. When a child experiences something bad or something dramatic, you want to be there to comfort them.
When we were at home the aftershocks were continuing about every ten minutes. It made us feel panicky so we decided to go outdoors like other families nearby. We made sure our daughter and some of the other children were sleeping under proper cover in the tents. The aftershocks continued for a couple of days and then there was heavy rain. We were uncomfortable and there were no toilet facilities; we had no proper sleep or food. We were outside for four nights in total.
The day it happened I had to focus on my husband and daughter, but after that I started talking to people on the phone. Being an aid worker, there was also a lot of work to be done, with lots of international staff coming in. On Monday I went into work with some colleagues to find out what was going on. But although I was there, I was not really there. It is difficult because I have to work - including helping provide aid to many other people who have suffered - but I also have to be responsible for my own family and my daughter. My husband was so worried the first day I went back, as I was on the other side of town. It is human nature to want to be close to each other when something like this happens.
When we came back to our home, Samara didn't want to go indoors, we had to coax her. She realises that what happened wasn't normal and that being in a house is risky. I have to think about how to handle my daughter's emotions, thinking about what she went through. But we also have to explain that we have been lucky. We have electricity now and drinking water. I was able to wash her and myself this morning, although now we do everything in a rush in case we get another aftershock. We are jittery, if we hear a bang or a crash we are ready to run out.
I have to go to work every morning and Samara is hesitant to let me leave. She says, “one last hug” before I go. I think it is probably the same for all mothers after this. It is her seventh birthday this week, so I will need to explain that this year, her birthday may be different.
The Disasters Emergency Committee launched the Nepal Earthquake Appeal on Monday. It has already raised £19 million which will help boost member agencies’ responses in Nepal, providing more emergency shelter, food, clean water and blankets. You can donate here.
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Guest post: Nepal earthquake: "it was chaos - we couldn't understand, and we couldn't do anything"
16 replies
MumsnetGuestPosts · 30/04/2015 09:26
OP posts:
TanteRose ·
30/04/2015 09:54
must have been terrifying 
I think the worst thing with earthquakes is the feeling of helplessness - you can't control anything
I went through the earthquake in Japan three years ago, and although I was south of Tokyo, very far from the epicentre, the aftershocks which went on for months were the most unnerving thing.
Its something that is, of course, always in the back of my mind, living in an earthquake-prone country - when will the Big One hit?
Nepal is in my thoughts and I hope that the country will be able to recover from this disaster 
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