“It’s a miracle,” says Natalia Rjumin-Girardet. “Only because the bus was moving slowly and almost got stuck on the muddy road in front of us, at the moment the flood wave came, we were standing right next to the stairs.”
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The woman from Lutry, canton of Vaud, survived the flood disaster in Nepal only by a happy coincidence. She met with “20 Minuten” journalists in Kathmandu.
“I could run out through the open bus doors. Our cook even climbed out through the window,” Natalia recounted. The woman and her seven fellow travelers were on a spiritual journey. They intended to cross the border into Tibet about 200 meters away when the flood hit the border post with full force.
“We just ran up those stairs”
“I saw a dark wall approaching us. It was debris, water, and a cloud of dust and mud, but at that moment we didn’t understand what it really was. We just ran up those stairs,” she said.
The stairs soon ended: “Then we crawled up the hill on all fours – through bushes and grass, just upwards. About 50 people ran along this escape route.”
The water masses kept rising behind them. On the high ground, they were already safe. Below, huge masses of water were thundering at that time.
“I saw the current carrying cars, buses, and entire houses. The village where we had spent the night simply disappeared,” said the eyewitness.
The survivors took shelter in a barn on the high ground: “It rained very heavily, we were all soaked and in shock.” Fortunately, their bus was not completely washed away – it lay overturned in the mud.
“Through the broken rear window, our group managed to partially retrieve luggage. A body lay next to the bus,” Natalia recounted. She saw another deceased person at the foot of the stairs.
The army noticed people in the barn
The group had to spend the whole day and night in the barn. Besides Natalia’s group of travelers, a few other tourists and locals managed to climb the hill.
The clothes Natalia was wearing were completely soaked, as were the items in her backpack. “We were all very cold and hungry. Still, two Italians gave me their warm things. That was so kind.”
Natalia Rjumin-Girardet is a yoga therapist and believes in the law of karma: “It was simply beautiful to see that despite the dramatic situation, everyone cared for each other. Not as one might think, that in panic everyone only looks out for themselves. On the contrary.”
The next morning, when a military helicopter flew over the disaster zone, one Nepalese woman shouted “incredibly loudly” – that’s how the rescuers noticed them.
“Women were rescued first,” Natalia said. “The helicopter initially dropped food, and later, when the rain eased, it was able to land near us and take the first people.”
“Everyone in front of us and behind us died”
Although she is a spiritual woman and loves nature much more than big cities, returning to Kathmandu she felt “very, very happy.”
“Now I will stay in the hotel for a while and let everything settle. Besides, I maintain close contact with the Swiss embassy,” she said.
Since her waist bag with the phone was washed away by the flood, the woman from the canton of Vaud could not yet contact her friends in Switzerland. Many years ago, Natalia founded the World Peace Association, whose president she was able to call from the “20 Minuten” journalist’s phone.
“My dear, I’m fine, it was a miracle. Our bus stopped right next to those stairs. Everyone in front of us and behind us died, but we were able to run up those stairs,” she told her friend again with tears in her eyes.
August 26 became her second birthday
After the phone call, Natalia said the events made her reflect a lot: “We survived, but now I think a lot about life and about what good I still want to do, because on that August 26 I was born again. This will be my second birthday. I want to care for people or helpless animals.”
She also thinks about the deceased, especially their relatives.
She would still like to continue her originally planned trip to the Kailash mountains in Tibet at age 70: “Now I have to see how everything develops further. I got a new passport, I still have to take care of administrative matters. But I still want to go there. My motivation has always been to feel the energy of those mountains and bring it home so I can share it with my friends from the World Peace Association.”
Natalia adds: “My story should open people’s hearts. I want people to do good. Sometimes even a small gesture can change a lot.”
Behind the scenes
The name Natalia Rjumin-Girardet was obtained by “20 Minuten” from Nepalese institutional lists. The institutions also indicated that she was rescued and taken to Kathmandu. Local tourism police later hinted to journalists that she was probably not in one of the many city hospitals, as only unaffected people were accommodated there.
The Nepalese police did not know more about her condition or whereabouts – not even whether she was still in the country at all. Natalia’s colleagues in Switzerland, whom “20 Minuten” contacted, had also heard nothing from her after the disaster and could not reach her Swiss number.
The decisive clue was provided by the travel agency with which Natalia traveled during the disaster. When journalists visited their office in Kathmandu, the staff helped. They knew that Natalia had a new Nepalese phone number and helped to contact her. After the phone call, both reporters finally met Natalia at her hotel.
