Tourists from Tamil Nadu, who left to Nepal with much enthusiasm a week ago, were more determined to get home on Monday.
“As I finished breakfast and got ready to leave to Baghbazaar, we felt severe tremors. I just stepped out and saw thousands of people, crying and leaving their houses. After that, for two days, till we reached Delhi there was no food or water,” Niyaz Ahmed, a businessman from Vellore said after arriving at the Chennai airport.
He said it was a painful struggle to get on a flight back to Delhi.
“There was no satisfactory response from the Indian Embassy there. Of course, it was extremely crowded; so, may be it was difficult for them to cope too,” Mr. Ahmed added.
C. Ramesh Babu along with nine of his family members and friends left for Kathmandu last Monday and were only thankful they could get back safe after witnessing a devastating earthquake.
Aftershocks
“While we were visiting Kathmandu’s Durbar Square, we began to feel the tremors; so, we immediately rushed back to our hotel. It was in a terrible shape when we returned,” he said.
Subsequently, they also panicked when there were a few aftershocks, Mr. Ramesh Babu added.
“The first flight that we had to travel in was cancelled in the last minute. After a great struggle, we somehow managed to get on another flight to Delhi,” he said.
Helpline
The Tamil Nadu government has set up a helpline desk at the Chennai airport. The helpline numbers are: 044-22562062/ 044-28593990/ 044-28593988
