Team Dover pilot survives Nepal earthquake

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Zachary Cacicia
  • 436th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. --  For one Team Dover C-17A Globemaster III pilot, what was supposed to be an adventurous mother-daughter vacation, full of breathtaking scenery and cultural experiences, was quickly rattled by a cataclysmic earthquake.

Capt. Brittany Bean, 436th Operations Support Squadron executive officer, and her mother, Starla, were in the middle of travelling throughout the country of Nepal when a devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck.

Bean and her mother were travelling with a tour group by bus on a rugged mountain road on their way to the city of Pokhara when the earthquake hit.

"The road was so bad, we were being jostled around in the bus," Bean said. "So when the earthquake hit, we didn't feel it. All of a sudden, we saw about 10 landslides happen all at once."

Bean, her mother and their tour group were confused by  the earthquake.

"Initially, we didn't know what was going on," she said.

Their tour bus was forced to stop on the road due to a traffic jam that was caused when a large bolder fell onto the road about 10 cars ahead of them.

"We really didn't know how bad the earthquake was at the time," she said. "Our tour guide would get periodic updates and we started to realize how devastating it had been."

Bean got out of the bus to help clear rubble from the road so that a motorbike could be sent down to the nearest town for help.

"One of the scariest things that happened occurred when we were moving the rubble; there was an aftershock," she said. "I just remember looking up and seeing this look of fear on one man's face."

The aftershock had triggered another landslide, this one was close by.

"Everyone started running down the road with their hands above their heads," she said. "We all started running to get out of its way."

Bean and her mother safely avoided the landslide and eventually made their way to Pokhara.  They originally were scheduled to catch a flight from there to Nepal's capital Kathmandu, but they were forced to take an eight-hour bus ride.

"We came in at night to an almost blacked-out city," she said. "Nobody had power and they were rationing food."

Three days after the initial earthquake, Bean and her mother were lucky enough to catch their scheduled fight out of Kathmandu. The airports had been closed for two days after the quake.

Prior to her departure, Bean had some difficulty contacting her family and members of her squadron, since internet and cellphone service was knocked out.

"I was able to finally get a text out to my husband and he was able to pass the word along," she said.

Bean and her mother planned this trip for several months.

"We had been planning this trip since the fall," Bean said. "She contacted me and wanted to do something off the beaten path, and I'm always up for travelling; it's my passion."

Bean now looks back and realizes how fortunate she and her mother were. 

"We were lucky to be where we were at the time it happened," she said. "We were just in Kathmandu two days prior."

Kathmandu was devastated, which resulted in heavy damage throughout the city.

"We were very blessed that we were able to see the temples and old buildings in Kathmandu before they were destroyed," she said.

Bean said the events made for a memorable vacation and that she is very thankful to have survived the disaster. She said this will not deter her from future travel adventures.