Page 36 - CORNICE GRADE 9

DESCRIBING

The 2015 terror

Saturday. The delightful and relaxed day of the week. Still confused and anxious, I was steered away by my
For Nepal however, 25th April 2015 Saturday would mother to the big green field outside my home. “We
prove to be anything, but delightful. will be safe here,” she said. Safe? From what? Was this
It started off as a normal Saturday morning. I some sort of apocalypse? An alien invasion? 8 year old
was at the table having my morning cereal. “ We need me wondered. It never once occurred to me that I was
to restock on groceries today.” my mom said. “Sure,” I living through one of the greatest tragedies to ever
replied. I loved to go grocery shopping with my mom. come about in Nepal’s history. Dust blew from
Checking my watch, I realized it was already 11:55 am. collapsing buildings, burning my eyes so I shut them
I sighed and got up from the table, thinking of all the tight. This can't be happening. This can't be happening.
unfinished homework I had to get done. Little did I Paramedics arrived shortly and tried to resuscitate the
know, my life was about to change the very next unresponsive victims on the floor. I saw them carry out
minute. 5 dead bodies that day. Obviously witnessing an event
Just as I reached the stairs to get to my as brutal as this was bound to leave a mark on an 8-
room, the ground started to rock back and forth. I year old’s brain. I was never the same. That day, I
found myself thrown towards the wall. The screams learned my lesson on gratitude. I was alive. So was my
let out by my mom echoed through the house. I family. But many families weren't as lucky as mine.
mustered enough strength to get up and ran towards They lost their loved ones. Almost 6000 people died
the door, the ground still trembling beneath my feet. and 22,000 were left injured. I tried to stop thinking
My sister, mother, and father followed. I was about it but my mind kept replaying the bloody scene
confused, to say the least. In fact, it took me quite a over and over again. The aftermath of the earthquake
while to understand the gravity of the situation. We was terrible. More than half the country lost their
ran out to the street, and what I saw absolutely tore homes. Luckily, ours was still standing but we didn't
me apart. Everything around me seemed to be know for how long it would bear the after shakes that
crumbling into debris. Little children were crying out kept occurring over the next few weeks. We slept
to their parents who were stuck under heaps of outside in tents for months.
rubbish, unable to get out, and possibly dead. People It has been over six years since 25th April,
were jumping from three, four, even six-storey 2015. The horrors, the screams, and the sight of the
windows. The chaos made me feel numb and in bloody bodies still haunt me to this day. Slowly, but
disbelief. On the other side of the road, a woman surely Nepal is rising again. The physical damage has
collapsed to the ground. Is this even real? I asked been repaired. But the mental damage will forever be
myself. irreversible.
Giovanna Parajuli

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