Date: 21/12/2022 Shift: 9:00 AM – 10:30 AM Q. No: 76

It must have been a terrible experience. The earthquake began with strong side-to-side movements which knocked down any person who was standing. Then there were up-and-down movements, a vast rumbling and reverberating noise as of an artillery bombardment or a hundred aeroplanes in the sky, and water gushed out in innumerable places out of huge fissures and craters and rose to about ten or twelve feet. All this probably lasted for three minutes or a little more, and then it died down; but those three minutes were terrible enough. It is not surprising that many persons who saw this happen imagined that this was the end of the world. In the cities, there was a noise of falling houses, and rushing of waters, and an atmosphere full of dust which made it impossible to see even a few yards. In the rural areas, there was not much dust and one could see a little farther, but there were no calm-eyed spectators. Those who survived lay flat on the ground or rolled about in an agony of terror.
The city of Monghyr was the last place in our tour. When we saw Monghyr and the absolute destruction of this rich city, we gasped and shivered at the horror of it. All over the earthquake areas there was a very painful absence of self-help among the residents, both in the cities and villages. Probably, the middle classes in the cities were the worst offenders in this respect. They all waited for somebody to take action and help them, either the Government or the non-official relief agencies. Others who offered their services thought that the work meant ordering people about. Part of this feeling of helplessness was no doubt due to the nervous collapse brought about by the terror of the earthquake, and it must have gradually lessened.
In marked contrast with this was the energy and capacity of the large numbers of relief workers – who poured in from other parts of Bihar and other provinces. It was wonderful to see the spirit of efficient service of these young men and women and, in spite of the fact that a host of separate relief organisations were working, there was a great deal of co-operation between them.