Neighbour of Delhi house collapse victims recalls ordeal

Nafisa, in her late 30s, lives in the house opposite the one that collapsed in Dayalpur, Mustafabad in northeast Delhi

Nafisa (who goes by her first name), in her late 30s, lives in the house opposite the one that collapsed in Dayalpur, Mustafabad in northeast Delhi, along with her husband and five children. The family runs a meat shop on the ground floor and lives on the first and second floor in a 30-square-yard house.

Rescue operations underway at the site on Saturday. (Sanchit Khanna/HT Photo)

On Friday night, she had just had a chat with her neighbours before going to bed at 12.30am. She woke up around 2.30am on Saturday to find the room shaking and then saw something hit the balcony wall.

“I thought it was an earthquake. Without thinking twice I woke up my husband, pulled two of my children with both hands and ran out. When we came out, there was so much dust everywhere that we couldn’t see anything. When our eyes adjusted after a while, we realised that the house in front of us had collapsed. I kept thinking that this was the family I last spoke to before going to bed,” said Nafisa.

Part of their balcony on the first floor was already damaged due to the collapse and it felt unsafe to go back, so the family moved to their relative’s house down the road. Nafisa was also worried as all of their belongings and mobile phones were left at home unattended. Without their phones, it was even difficult to get in touch with concerned relatives. However, her bigger worry was the condition of her many pets.

“We have two Persian cats who would not come out, a parrot, and at least 15-20 pigeons. We have not fed them since morning and the children keep asking about them. We are also not allowed to go there and now the entire front area is overed in rubble. There is no way to go inside our house,” said Nafisa.