It was shocking to hear about the earthquake in Nepal last
month. It was a sad sight, seeing the destruction caused in the beautiful city
of Kathmandu and surrounding areas. It was commendable of India’s PM Mr.
Narendra Modi to send in the Indian Army and Air-Force for rescue missions.
Nepal right now needs all the help it can get. My thoughts and prayers go out
to Nepali citizens and those in India affected by the quake. I pray to God to
give them the strength to overcome the adversity and wish them a speedy
recovery.
Hearing about the quake in Nepal brings me memories of
an Earthquake I experienced fifteen years back: a quake which was similar in
intensity to the Himalayan Quake but caused far more damage. I still remember
the day as vividly as if it happened yesterday.
It was the 26th of January 2001. The time on the
clock read 8:30 AM (or near around that). The people of the state of Gujarat
along with the rest of India were slowly rousing themselves from deep slumber
to celebrate the nation’s 51st Republic day, unaware of the
cataclysmic chain of events which were to occur. I was in my hometown
Vadodara (also known as Baroda) in Gujarat, spending a well-earned break in-between
my hectic college schedule with family and friends. My house had small room on
the terrace where I was sleeping at that time. I was snoring away blissfully on
the bed, wandering in ZZZ land, totally unprepared for what was to come. I must
have shifted my position as the bed shook a little. The bed always shook whenever
I shifted position during sleep due to shifting of weight: so my conscious mind
took no notice and I continued sleeping. But my subconscious mind was active
and noticed that the bed was still shaking long after I had shifted position.
It must have flashed an alert-signal to my brain which flashed a warning
message to me.
The bed continued shaking and despite the deep sleep was in I
instinctively knew that something was wrong. And then in an instant, the mists
cleared and I knew that there was only one possible explanation for the
continued bed shaking.
EARTHQUAKE!!
My mother’s high pitched shout from below confirmed my
suspicions. Needing no further prompting, I shook off all remaining traces of
sleep and ran for what I was worth towards the steps. The house was shaking so violently that I seriously doubted whether I would make
it in time downstairs before the entire structure collapsed. But then, just as I reached the stairs the tremors
subsided and everything became still again. I rushed down to the street where
my family members were waiting anxiously. The entire neighborhood was out on
the street. There was a lot of confusion and people were chattering animatedly.
Many people like me, had experienced a quake for the first time and were still
reeling under the effects. Then we all gathered our wits and started joking and
laughing about the affair, just to calm our frayed nerves. After spending
sometime outside, we all returned to our houses. We were all shaken by the
affair despite the face of calm we projected outwards. We switched on our TV
sets to catch the early morning news. It was then that the full extent of
damage caused by the quake came to light all across Gujarat. Vadodara was among
the fortunate cities which was least effected. There were a few cracks in some
buildings and some poles and trees had been uprooted here and there, but apart
from that there was no major damage to the city.
We were busy the rest of the morning answering calls from
concerned relatives and friends and assuring them of our safety. The entire
day, news bulletins ran continuously round the clock showing images of
buildings torn to dust and rescue workers prying out trapped people from the
debris. Death and destruction were everywhere. Bhuj and its surrounding areas
in the Kutch district were near the epicentre of the quake and were totally
decimated. Other cities in Gujarat too bore the brunt of nature’s fury. But the
damage was most widespread in Ahmedabad, Gujarat’s commercial capital. A day
which was to be a national celebration turned out to be a day of tragedy and
mourning. The newspapers were filled with heart-rending stories of tragedy and
harrowing survivor accounts. Many people including me had experienced nature’s
fury live for the first time and were totally shaken by the experience. It’s
one thing to read about such incidents in the paper or hear it in the news. But
to experience it first hand is a totally different experience; one that will
stay with you for a long time.
But even after the darkest hour comes the dawn. Slowly but steadily, Gujarat limped back to normalcy after
the damage and destruction thanks to the never say die spirit of the Gujarati
people, though many people still carry psychological scars till date. I myself
could not sleep soundly for an entire week. The city of Bhuj was rebuilt. People went
about their daily lives and the state of Gujarat once
again gained its position as the vibrant economic powerhouse of India.
There are three vital lessons I learnt from the incident.
The first lesson I learnt was that life is unpredictable.
There is no telling what fate has in store for you tomorrow; if tomorrow ever
comes, that is. J
So don’t leave any stone unturned. Achieve whatever you want to achieve before
the lights go out for the final time. Live fully with no regrets and worries
and don’t take life so seriously. It’s not like you are going to get out alive
anyway. J
The second lesson is one which we should all take seriously.
There are impromptu fire drills conducted once every 2-3 months in our office
premises. These drills emphasize on how we should react whenever there is an emergency, natural or artificial. It’s a sad
fact that many of us take these exercises very lightly. We treat them as a
joke and an opportunity to get away from the work station for some time. But
God forbid if an emergency really occurs, then many of us will have then wished
that we had paid more attention to the lectures. In reality, you do not have
more than a fraction of a second to think and your actions make all the difference
between life and death.
The third and the most important lesson is this: No matter
how much man progresses, no matter how tall and strong he builds his buildings,
no matter how powerful he builds his vehicles; all his ingenuity and
resourcefulness are no match for the vagaries of nature. After all, it took no
more than a single Iceberg to destroy the Titanic, easily one of the biggest
and most powerful ships of her time. A few tremors caused unprecedented death
and destruction across Gujarat in 2001 and Nepal in 2015. Therefore, whatever
man does must always be in harmony with nature. Sometimes, due to greed and
oversight, man pushes the limits of her boundaries. But one day she will return
with a vengeance and claim what is rightfully hers.
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- - Srinivas Pavan Addanki
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