JOIN USAlert father saves kids in nick of time
Forty-year-old vegetable seller Ram Niwas and his family were sleeping in their one-room house in south Delhi’s Arjun Nagar when an adjoining building started to fall over his house.
He and his children had to run for cover, leaving their belongings behind. After the buildings collapsed, Niwas and his family are without a roof over their head now, leaving them at the mercy of the government authorities to arrange for their stay.
“Me and my children were sleeping in the room when my wife, who had woken up as she had to leave for work early, shook me saying that a strange creaking noise is coming from the walls. She then left for work leaving me to inquire about the noise,” said Niwas.
“As I raised my head to look up in the room I noticed cracks were developing on the wall and plaster was peeling off. I sensed that something bad was about to happen, as the cracks were widening every passing second,” he added.
Left belongings behind
Niwas woke up his children and told them to rush out immediately. “I was taking my kids out and thinking of packing some belongings too when a brick came off from the wall and hit my head,” he said.
The jolt was enough to remind Niwas that he had to choose between his children’s lives and his belongings. He grabbed the hands of his children and ran out from the building. As soon as they left, the adjoining building fell over his house, demolishing everything which was there.
Niwas’ humble belongings were gone, but he was grateful that he saved his own and his children’s lives. The couple has five children. They are now looking wistfully at the debris of the building, which bulldozers were clearing, wondering whether to mourn the loss of their home or celebrate their luck. A delay by a few seconds would have cost them their lives.
“After the earthquake, we had expressed our willingness to vacate our room, but our landlord assured us that the building will not collapse. What should we do now, all my belongings, my TV, cooler, utensils are gone. I don’t even have warm clothes to protect my children from the cold at night. I have nowhere to go. We will spend the night out in the open today,” Niwas said.