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Buried under debris Indira survived the earthquake

Indira (right) sustained a severe spinal cord injuries when her house collapsed on her in the Nepal earthquake. Her sister Mandira is visiting her in the special ward for female patients at cbm&#039;s partner &#039;International Nepal Fellowship&#039; (INF), in Pokhara.

Buried under the debris of her family’s mud house Indira sustained a spinal cord injury. Medical help was out of reach. Indira had to go through immense pain until she was transferred to a hospital four days later. The earthquake has changed her life forever but most importantly, she has survived.

Indira is a 27 year old young woman who lived with her parents in a two-storey mud house in the Gorkha district in central Nepal. Before the earthquake that hit Nepal on 25th April 2015, with a magnitude of 7.8, Indira used to work in the fields and took care of the livestock.

The day of the earthquake has changed her life forever
“That day I had a slight headache and was lying down in my house. Suddenly, the ground began to shake. In the beginning I thought it could be because I’m not feeling well.

Later, when I realised it was an earthquake and began to run, the entire house collapsed on me. I don’t remember what happened after that…

Sometime later when I regained consciousness, I was being pulled out of the debris by a group of villagers. It was then I knew I had broken my spine, and couldn’t move my legs at all… As the villagers carried me to a safe place, the ground kept shaking every few minutes.

Later, I found out that the entire village had been levelled, crops destroyed, livestock had been killed in hundreds, roads had cracked up, and to make things worse, there were huge stones falling from the hill on to our broken houses…

Thankfully, none from my family was injured except me.”

Immediate medical help was out of reach
“For three days, no relief could reach our village. I had to lie down in immense pain and wait for medical treatment. We had nothing to eat… But because the roads had been badly damaged, nothing could reach our village.

Then on the fourth day a helicopter arrived to carry injured people from Aapri to the district headquarters in Gorkha. Then a special ambulance transported me from Gorkha to Gandaki Hospital in Pokhara. It was there I finally received some medical treatment… Four days later, I was transferred to the Green Pastures Hospital in Pokhara for further recovery.”

Currently, Indira is under recovery at cbm’s partner ‘Green Pastures Hospital and Rehabilitation Centre’ (GPHRC), which is located in Pokhara and specializes in the treatment and rehabilitation of leprosy, disability, reconstructive surgery and spinal cord injury.

For every person that dies during a disaster, it is estimated that three people sustain an injury many of these are long-term disabilities.

cbm’s Emergency Response team is already on the ground and has been monitoring the situation to ensure that the emergency response is inclusive. The cbm family has provided funds to help people most at risk. Please donate now as much more will be needed to support long term injuries and disabilities sustained in the earthquake.

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