I am a trekking Guide in Nepal for the last twenty years. I had never ever come across with such a
powerful and devastating disaster in the mountain since I started. The country's Western, Central and Eastern part, where tourism activities are concentrated and most of the beautiful trekking trails are located were shaken by the powerful earthquake of 25th , 26th April & 12th May 2015 which now known well as Gorkha earthquake. The epicenter of the earthquake was in the region called Gorkha.
We, party of 6 were walking in Machermo - Gokyo section of Everest region on that day. The weather was not good, it was snowing continuously since last night and it was cloudy while we were walking. The trail was muddy, slippery and really challenging. As we approached in a uphill / cliff after passing small town of Phanga, we experienced powerful tremor and immediate saw huge rocks falling down towards us from the cliff. I shouted and warned everybody of the team to be safe, asked them to check the boulders and find a safer place for themselves. It was not that easy task, we literally surrendered our life to the mountain. We struggled for about 5 minutes with those falling rocks and finally by the grace of God and miracle, we all were fine.
We then, waited for about 20 minutes to be psychologically fit and strong to move again. We, at that
stage unaware of power and destruction caused by the earthquake continued towards Gokyo . On the
way up, I met a group who were rushing back down towards Machermo and informed me that most of the lodges in Gokyo were damaged. They feared of possible glacial lake's burst which is located above Gokyo in a linear direction. Tired and hungry after few hours walk, I could not decide what to do, either to turn around or to continue. As the porters were already off to Gokyo ahead of us we had no choice of continuing for another two good hours in a waist deep snow.
As we reached Gokyo, the situation was terrific. Porters, Guides and Lodge owners were trying to
contact their families in Kathmandu and in villages but unable and tortured. The telephone were not
working properly, there were no internet and from very unauthentic accounts we heard that Kathmandu was completely destroyed with more than 100,000 casualties suspected. This was now, the most difficult moment for me. I had left lovely wife and a daughter in Kathmandu. I started to worry about them, and as I noticed that the epicenter was in Gorkha few kilometers away from my home where my parents were living ....there were no thoughts in my mind. It was completely blank…….
It was around 2 pm we reached in Gokyo. We were being shaken by many aftershocks continuously.
At 6 pm, with the help of satellite phone available in town with poor reception, I could talk to my wife, she was fine, daughter is fine, my parents were fine, my sister's family living close to my parents home are fine, and I am fine. What a miracle. One minute phone conversation brought me all the happiness and relief. Now, I could sleep. I could eat and I could rest. But, some other porters were still struggling to get through their families to disturb our mind.
In two days time, we changed our plan and gave up to Cho La Pass, we turned back same way and
walked all the way to Phortse approximately eleven hours until we found safe lodge to sleep. In
Machhermo, the lodge where we slept two days ago was completely destroyed. In our bed, now was a huge rock laying or hanging in the river bank. It was terrific to see and think of the disaster. If it
happened at midnight while we were sleeping ..... ? We were all at the right place, at the right time.
What a coincidence to be safe and alive again.
Families back in Kathmandu and village slept in a temporaty tented shelter during the rainy nights. I
wanted to see them as quick as possible, but it would not be practicable. In few days time, we started to get the numbers of death tolls, destruction stories of the earthquake.
The situation of Tourism after the Earthquake
Due to the earthquake, some of the finest trekking trails like Manasalu, Langtang were damaged
seriously and Everest region experienced partial damage with Annapurna region very little. In May and June experienced up to 80 percent fall on tourist arrivals. October and November received few tourists in Nepal for trekking but still the number was very low to employ large numbers of employees in the sector.I have not been in any trek since then. We are living with last season's saving and it is not very enjoyable moment to stay idle and being jobless. Many new hotels in Kathmandu are now closing down since the huge operation cost could not be maintained with small number of tourists.
My parents back in mountain are still living in a temporary types of hut, since the government planned to provide safer design and subsidy to build house. So, this is going to start from April 2016 as they are ready now to start the re-construction.
All the trekking trails are now in operation after maintenance. We are very optimistic that trekking and tourism in Nepal will be back. We saw some good sign already as in November the number of trekkers was higher than in 2014.
There is a serious thought among the people, that trekking holiday in Nepal can help from various points and can help to heal Nepalese people and economy. So, we are hopeful to have a prosperous tourist season again in the coming Spring and Autumn.
Let’s be optimistic ! Oh, there is another powerful aftershock right now, while I am writing this piece, SCARY and SCARY !
June 2015
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