Ramdev safe in Kathmandu, expresses grief over destruction

Yoga guru Ramdev, who is in Kathmandu for a yoga camp, is safe, his spokesperson said after a massive earthquake shook Nepal and parts of India on Saturday morning, causing widespread devastation.

Ramdev has gone there to conduct a five-day session being organised by Patanjali, Nepal chapter.

"Our sessions were from 5 a.m to 7.30 a.m. He then went to a different camp and at the time of the earthquake he was coming out from that session," Ramdev's spokesperson S.K. Tijarawala told IANS.

"Also a few minutes after he came out of the 'pandal', it collapsed. And when he moved further away, he saw a multi-storey building collapse in front of his eyes," he added.

Tijarawala also said: "He (Ramdev) has seen such natural disaster for the first time and was not in a position to understand what action he should take in the first place."

According to Tijarawala, Ramdev is fine and has expressed grief and shock at this natural calamity. "He has assured Nepal that India will be by their side."

"We have already mobilised thousands of our supporters to be active in rescue operations and other ground work required during this time of grief," he added.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj tweeted: "We have contacted Baba Ramdev in Kathmandu. He wishes to be there in this hour of crisis."

Ramdev has postponed the inauguration of the first Patanjali Ayurved College and Hospital, and the laying of the foundation stone of the first Acharyakulam, a school based on vedic-cum-modern education, in Nepal.

The earthquake measuring a staggering 7.9 on the Richter scale, with its epicentre in Nepal's Lamjung district some 75 km from Kathmandu, led to massive infrastructure destruction, leaving 888 people dead till Saturday evening.