While there was backlash against the Indian Media and many slammed the government saying that it had treated the earthquake as a PR opportunity, how many of us know the real story?
Image source: IANS
Here’sKumar Swamy sharing his experience with the popular Facebook group Humans of Bombay, about experiencing the quake and how he got back to India safely. “I felt the Earthquake when I was at the Kathmandu airport, waiting to board my flight. The first thing I saw was a young man, running through the gate’s glass door which had jammed. Next thing I knew, an air conditioner fell on my back, but luckily I was wearing a backpack that saved me. Everyone at the airport spent the next few hours on the runway, constantly feeling tremors. We left the airport to go back to our hotel, but it had been badly affected…so we returned to the airport, where the Indian Embassy officials were systematically planning our evacuation.
To everyone who has doubted the Indian Government my message is this – I wouldn’t be alive today without the Indian Air Force. Can you actually believe that, the real hindrance in the evacuation process were us Indian citizens who created complete chaos and showed no faith. The IAF officials were sending pregnant women, senior citizens and families with children on the first flights…but there were so many who were pushing to get ahead, offering bribes, screaming and fighting to leave first.
Image courtesy: Facebook.com
Our Indian Air Force and the Military Personnel are the real heroes. They have carried luggage, senior citizens and wheel chairs on their back to make sure the flights left on time and this is in addition to swiftly removing resources from the flights that were coming in. I landed in Delhi at 12:00 that night and at 12:15 sharp the same flight left to get back more people…and those 5 flights kept relentlessly making their way up and down this route.
When will we appreciate them? When will we realize that money cannot buy our way out of everything? and most importantly when will we realize that there are people who chose the option of staying back to help purely out of humanity, and no amount of money in the world could have bought that?”
