Barpak, the village of legendary Gorkha soldiers almost destroyed in Nepal earthquake

Barpak (Nepal): : Barpak and its adjoining village of Larpak on two sides of a mountain have been completely devastated in the 7.9 magnitude earthquake that hit Nepal on April 25. At the epicentre of the Himalayan tragedy, the village of Barpak is silent today, with grief, loss and utter helplessness. The Indian Army has reached the village and the first relief and medical teams, too, have reached bringing the much-needed succour to its residents.

Major Sandhya of the Army's Medical Corps hasn't had a moment of rest since she landed in the village of Barpak. Women, elderly and the children have been queuing up with complaints of aches, pains, injuries, breathing troubles, but more acutely a deep sense of fear and trauma.

Speaking to CNN-IBN, Major Sandhya said, "The elderly of the village have been the worst as also the children. As the houses came down into heaps of rubble many were buried for hours before they were pulled out."

Barpak today is a canvas of ruin, seven of its dead have already been buried, the living spend their nights and days on small verandas. When the fear subsides they walk through their collapsed houses or dig in the rubble.

And sometimes they tell you who they have lost.

A terribly shaken man said that wife is dead and his brother's wife also dead. Amidst cries he said. "sab mar gaya (all are dead)."

Even before the first helicopters and medical teams landed in the area, villagers retrieved whatever they could. From the ruins came out blankets, a gas cylinder, a broken TV set, signs of what their life used to be before the deadly quake.

A young man said who managed to survive said. "Parivaar sab theek hain, chawal, dal chor ker, jaan bacha ker bhaag nikla (My family is safe. We ran away leaving behind all the essential items including food)."

Barpak in the Gorkha district has had a long association with the Indian Army as well the British Gurkhas. Today the village is hoping to hold on to its past and its present.

Hundreds, may be even thousands of its young men, have joined the Indian and British armies and served with distinction.