It was a night of terror on a scale never seen before. The world watched in horror as a spate of violence erupted in Paris on Friday night, leaving the entire nation in trauma. There is a palpable sense of fear and concern among Parisians, including Nepalis living here, who number around 3,000. The violence has left us shattered and terrified.

I was scheduled to meet a friend in a restaurant in central Paris, the area where shootings took place. I learnt about the terror attack from Facebook status of a friend of mine, who had heard the explosion from his apartment. It was a regular Friday evening, but it turned into a night of tragedy. The meeting was then cancelled.

Death toll was increasing by the hour, and France declared state of emergency and sealed its borders.

Of the estimated 4,000 Nepalis living in France, 70 per cent of them live in Paris. Till Saturday morning, there were no reports of Nepalis being injured or killed

in the series of coordinated attacks. This was some relief, but my heart goes out to the families of the victims of this terrible tragedy.

On Saturday m0rning I went around the city to get a sense of what had happened in this terrible incident - second terror attack in Paris in less than a year. On January 7, two gunmen had attacked offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, killing 11 people.

The streets on Saturday morning were calm with only a handful of people outside a few shops that were open.

The French government has restricted movement around core areas where the shootings and explosions took place. There is a growing sense of confusion and fear among people here.

Friday night’s events, it seems, were designed to kill maximum number of people. This has made us fearful about visiting crowded areas like bus and metro stations and departmental stores.

 Everyone is worried about what will happen next. We are in a state of shock.  

(As told to Pragati Shahi)