Earthquake Stories: Mr. Purna Gautam – Reconstruction of the Eco-friendly Home and Lodge

Mr. Purna Bahadar Gautam is the founder of the Secondary School in Melamchighyang and the owner of the Eco-friendly Home and Lodge.

Mr. Purna Gautam and his wife

He was in his office at school when suddenly the Earthquake occurred. He quickly moved under a desk and protected himself from the falling parts of the building. Luckily, he could be saved and once he was outside of the school he directly ran to his home and saw that everything was damaged completely. At that time when everything got destroyed his two sons, his wife and one volunteer from the UK were staying at home. Mr. Purna could hear some disruptive sounds of a radio and located the noise of it at a damaged part of the lodge which was once used to be the kitchen. He started to pull stones away to create a hole and screamed for his family without any answer. He was throwing the stones away for a long time until one of the teachers was calling him to say that all of his family members could already be saved and that they were staying in the helping area that was set up to ensure primary care quickly after the earthquakes.

The ruins where once the house of Mr. Purna was standing

Mr. Purna Gautam told us that it was the greatest relief to hear that all of his family members seemed to be alright. Nowadays his family is still staying in a temporary home. Although a touch of sadness could be perceived when Mr. Gautam talked about his former Eco-Friendly Home, having everything what made their life worth living he is full of energy and power to make the best out of it.

Mr. Gautam is very positive about the reconstructing process of his lodge seeing it as second chance.