As the earth shook, we sat motionless

Wg Cdr T Sridharan (retd)
On April 24, my trek to the Langtang area, 140km from Kathmandu, was at its peak. At 4,000 metres above sea level, I witnessed the birth of a Yak calf. It’s considered a lucky sign, some Lamas told me as I began my return trek at 11am. I wondered what better could I have in store after such a blissful journey.
I stopped at Langtang village and ate toast at a bakery.A Japanese Boy I had met in the bus from Kathmandu to Sybru Besi, where the trek began, kept me company. We reached a lodge next to Langtang Khola river, which I left the next day. At 11.30am, I met an orthopedic traumatologist from Czech Republic, who was on his way up. I was having a chat and taking photos with him with when the earth began to rumble. It was 11.45am.
Realizing it was an earthquake, I pushed the Czech doctor towards the hillside, and we sat motionless hugging each other. Once the tremors stopped, we tried to stand up but the earth shook again. We jumped to the hillside, as the track was only 2 feet wide and the valley lay 500m below.
My Japanese friend, who was ahead, came back undaunted as he had experienced many earthquakes. We walked down, met an Israeli couple. We reached Khangjum by 1.30pm. By then all the trekkers who left that place came back one by one, including the Czech doctor and the Israeli couple. They all decided to stay put.
After lunch we headed to Sybru Besi (800 metre descent). En route, we met a few villagers whose tea shops had been destroyed, but luckily no one was injured. At 4pm, my phone began to catch signal and I spoke to my wife and son in Bengaluru, assuring them of my safety. In turn, I got to know of the damage all over Nepal.
I reached Sybru Besi at 5.30pm. The road had cracked at many places. Wall of many guesthouses were damaged but there were no causalities. All lodge owners were standing on the road; women and children were moved to a field for the night. We found a place under the improvised polythene sheets. There were at least 200 people sleeping in the field, including 50 trekkers.
In the morning, I heard from a few locals that the road to Kathmandu was broken. I decided to walk to Dhunche, 15km from Sybru Besi. I reached Dhunche Market at 12.45pm where another mild tremor was felt, and headed to the Army unit. The scene was chaotic. Patients on stretchers were brought to the gate for evacuation to Kathmandu. Suddenly, it started raining and there was no place to keep the stretchers. It was a pitiable sight.
At 4am, I heard the sound of a helicopter, and it turned out to be an MI-17. The next sortie came quickly and rescued everyone, including six patients. Another 20 passengers were soon whisked away to Kathmandu airport.
In Kathmandu, I got to know that a major avalanche and landslide had hit Langtang village, which I had crossed only a day earlier. I still don’t know what had happened to those trekkers who did not join me on my return. The next day, I was airlifted to New Delhi.
The writer is chairman, Indian Mountaineering Foundation (IMF), south zone