What were you doing when the Great Quake rattled the country? How did you react?

I was with my friends at my house in Bishalnagar. We were planning to go to the alleys of Bhaktapur to check out some film locations. We were working on a short video about the national cricket team. We were planning to take shots of people playing cricket in the narrow alleys of Bhaktapur, to capture their craze for the game.

When the quake hit, we were on the third floor of my house, and all of sudden, it started to shake. When the jolts didn’t ebb away, we were more concerned about saving my family members, relatives and neighbours.

And I was also concerned about the kids whom my sister had taken into our home. There were seven of them, orphans from Jumla. I was worried about their safety. My mother has a kidney-related problem and I needed to look out for her too. Although I was nervous, I stayed strong through the ordeal.  

But during the night, we started to panic a bit. No one could go inside the house, and I asked nine people to sleep inside my car.

What was the most remarkable thing you noticed in the aftermath of the Great Quake?

I could see a great change in the people’s attitude and mentality. People were gripped with terror, but they were all willing to help each other. There were many elderly people, women and children who were confused, but there were many people ready to serve them.  Even young people who didn’t know them were helping them. The youth themselves were shaken, but still helping others.

How did you start reaching out to people?

Two days after the Great Quake, I hopped on my bike and visited many open spaces like Sano Gaucharan, Sifal Chaur, Tinkune and other places inside the Valley. I found out that there was a water shortage in the shelters, and many of the places needed toilets.  I was not able to do anything for the people financially, but I knew a few people in the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI). I contacted them and requested them to provide water and sanitation facilities in the areas.

At some of the shelters, I actually got scolded by some of people because they thought I was a government official, and they were mad at me for turning up so late after the quake to inquire about them.  

You have also taken relief material to many quake-affected villages. How was the situation in these villages?

My friends and I first visited four VDCs in Nuwakot District. This was five days after the Great Quake. Everyone in the VDCs had been affected by the quake; we realised that the food we had brought with us for distribution would barely last them two days. We ran into many students who had returned home from Kathmandu and were digging through the debris in their demolished houses. I noticed that many of the roofs in the houses had caved in. And still people had not lost hope. People were expecting relief material from the government, but no government official had reached their area. Although the supplies we distributed were not much, they were happy with our contribution.  Even in such difficult times, they showed their hospitality to us.

Later, we also visited Sundarijal and other surrounding areas of the Valley.

What was the most remarkable rescue story you heard during your visits to the quake-affected areas?

In one VDC in Nuwakot, I met an elderly woman in her mid-seventies. Her house was totally destroyed. Her husband, a diabetic, was lying under a tent next to the collapsed building when we came across her. When the Great Quake hit, theold lady was working in a nearby field.  The old man was sleeping inside the house. The lady ran inside her house, dragged her husband and then hurled him onto the courtyard.