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| KASHMIR FLOODS: 77,000 rescued, above 4 lakhs still stranded | | Abandoned on treetops, rooftops without food; people forced to take flood water to quench thirst | |  Bashir Assad
Srinagar, Sept 10: Water levels have started receding in Srinagar city, one of the worst hit by the deluge, facilitating rescue workers to pluck out another 29,000 persons to safety but four lakh people were today still waiting for help in the flood-ravaged Kashmir Valley.
Scaling up rescue work, Army and IAF have deployed 329 columns and 79 aircrafts and helicopters to evacuate those stranded and provide food and medicines.
"A massive rescue and relief operation by Indian Armed Forces is continuing on a war footing in Jammu and Kashmir with over 76,500 persons rescued so far by the Armed forces and NDRF in different regions of the state", PRO, Defence, Col G D Goswami said today.
Hundreds of people stuck on tree-tops without a morsel to eat for three to four days and many others, including women and children, cramped in small areas on top of their houses for about five days. This is the story of the few areas of Srinagar which could be accessed today through Army trucks for the first time since floods turned the capital city into a giant killer lake.
Hundreds of flood victims who have converged on the Pantha Chowk-Nowgam bypass are seen drinking flood water to quench their thirst. The agony of people in towns around the capital city and in the remote areas is yet to be revealed.
The magnitude of the calamity which has struck Jammu and Kashmir is so huge that rebuilding of public infrastructure apart, it will take years together to rehabilitate all those impacted by the floods.
As the rescue operation for evacuation of the stranded people is going on in full swing in Srinagar city, there are many areas completely submerged and still inaccessible on the outskirts of the city.
It is horrifying that the rescue operations of the government agencies have not yet reached south Kashmir, which was first struck by the floods. Even in areas around Lal Chowk, the commercial capital of the city, there is strong resentment against the administration for what the people term as its "failure" to rescue thousands of people stuck in their inundated houses, or in hotels housing hundreds of hapless tourists.
In large stretches of Srinagar, people are saying that teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and Army personnel are focusing on rescue work in the posh areas of the city, leaving the poor to fend for themselves. NDRF and Army rescue teams started their operations along Pantha Chowk - Nowgam bypass after 12 noon today.
People in Zuwa, Bonpora, Vyathpora, Gandabal, Samerbugh, Tengna, Chralipora, Budshah Nagar, Soiteng, Padshahi Bagh, Shalina, Kenihama, Baghat Kanipora and other areas in the outskirts of the city say they had lost hope and were thinking that they were now destined to die. Their houses are in water up to the second or third floors, and they had received no help for the last six days.
There are reports that the NDRF rescue personnel were stoned by angry residents in the Civil Lines area who were alleging discrimination in evacuation operations.
Unreported deaths
The death toll in the severely-impacted areas is yet to be ascertained. However, people who somehow managed to reach safer areas are narrating horrifying tales of death and destruction. Mohammed Shaban, a 45-year-old resident of Rakh Shalina, a village on the bank of Jhelum, told his correspondent that flood waters first hit the village at night. "My house is on the second floor. I was swept away by the flood and managed to catch hold of the top tip of a stone crusher machine. I clung to that, and saw heavy vehicles floating on water like straw. Dozens of houses collapsed by the force of the flood water, which was about 15-16 feet in height. Not even a single resident of these houses could be seen later. I have no idea of the whereabouts of my family members," said Shaban, crying bitterly.
In the hundreds of villages dotting the Jhelum banks, the few survivors are narrating similar stories.
A senior police officer who was coordinating the rescue operation with the NDRS and army teams, said that the official figure for the fatalities till is now is about 285. "The state administration is apprehensive that the death toll could be in thousands," he said.
NDRF officials told this correspondent in Lasjan, near Pantha Chowk, that their priority is to evacuate the people who are alive. "We know that a large number of deaths are likely. It is vital to rescue those who are living, and take them to safer areas or provide help wherever they are," said an NDRF official.
Relief work
The failure of the state administration to provide relief can be gauged from the fact that thousands of flood victims are quenching their thirst drinking the flood-water. Local MLA Javed Mustafa Mir, whose three-storeyed residential accommodation is still under the flood waters, was seen working with the NDRF teams to personally rescue the flood victims in his constituency.
The desperation in the area was so acute that Mir was heard asking people to use floodwater for drinking purposes. Volunteers from the higher reaches of Budgam district are ferrying eatables and other essentials, and distributing these among the people who have taken refuge on the elevated Srinagar-Anantnag railway track, or on the bypass, from where the flood waters have started receding.
The locals are also arranging langars for people who have taken shelter in schools and other government buildings where water level is low now. Relief work by the state administration and the central government agencies is reported from several areas of the city. Relief camps have been set up in Royal Springs Golf Course, Hotel Grand Lalit, Gol Market Karan Nagar, Badami Bagh cantonment and Custodian Flats, Sanant Nagar, among other areas.
However, people in downtown areas like Safakadal, Nawakadal, Nawab Bazar, Chota Bhazar, Habakadal, Barbarshah, Nawhata, Khanyar, Saidakadal and Rainawari are alleging that nobody from the state administration has come to their rescue despite almost a week of hardship.
On the other hand, rescue teams of the Army and hundreds of local volunteers are extending help in submerged areas of Tanpora bypass, Firdousabad, Bemina, Boat Colony Bemina, SPA Colony Bemina, Khumaini Chowk and adjoining areas.
Gandarbal, in east of Srinagar city, where Sindh river played havoc on September 1, 2 and 3, is yet to receive help.
Hospitals running out of life-saving drugs
Due to breakdown of the supply chains to Srinagar, hospitals in the capital city are running out of life-saving drugs and fuel to operate the generators. They are pinning their hopes on the rescue teams to deliver the essentials to them.
Hospital administrations have urged their local suppliers to donate medicines if they have stocks lying with them.
Communication links
BSNL mobile phones started functioning in some parts of Srinagar city today morning. On Tuesday, only Aircel mobile phones were working in a few parts of the city, and all other services were down. In flood-hit areas of the region where there is no electricity, no communication has been possible for over a week now. |
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