The function to mark the foundation-laying of 25 new and modernised bus stations and the felicitation of bus drivers who evacuated the Nepal earthquake victims at the Chief Minister’s official residence was jolted by tremors on Tuesday. The function came to a halt as all those present — Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, senior Ministers, State and transport officials, security staff and media personnel — rushed out of the conference hall.
The tremors were felt soon after the Chief Minister was presented a cheque for Rs. 77 lakh by the Lakhimpur Kheri district administration for quake relief work and the Principal Secretary (Transport), Kumar Arvind Singh Deo, mentioned about the 200 buses sent to Nepal for evacuation work.
It was at around 12.38 p.m. when the journalists present felt the chairs shaking and it took some time to realise that it indeed was a powerful aftershock. In fact, media personnel were the first to raise an alarm.
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When the function resumed after about ten minutes, the Chief Minister said the safest place in the event of a quake is in the open.
Even as the Chief Minister acknowledged that it was the media which first raised the alarm it did not deter him from taking a dig at press persons when he twice said how he saw some media personnel sitting in the rear rushing out. He acknowledged that he too moved out. “Had I been the first one to exit it would have made news, which is why I delayed my going out,” Mr. Yadav said.