M A I N   N E W S

Leh fury leaves behind 150 orphans 
Tejinder Singh Sodhi writes from Leh

At the Himanak camp, sitting a few yards away from Dolkar is three-year-old Staizing Thordot, who while holding his father’s hands suddenly starts crying for his mother. His mother, however, cannot hear his cries as she was washed away by the flood waters.

“He suddenly starts crying and wants to go to his mother; she was washed away in front of his eyes,” said the toddler’s father Staizing Tsering.

More than 150 children have been orphaned by the floods that ravaged Leh killing over 150 people. “We are in the process of collecting data as a large number of people are still missing, but it is estimated that around 150 children have become orphans and an equal number have lost one of their parents,” said a government official. Some of the victims don’t exactly know what they have lost as they are too young to understand the gravity of the damage suffered by them. Some of the children who have lost both their parents are living with relatives whereas some are being looked after by non-government organisations.

“We look after 67 children in the age group of four to 14 years in our camp. Half of them have lost both their parents; some of the children are too young to comprehend the tragedy,” said Jigmat, coordinator with an NGO. The state government has so far not announced any grant for the children who have been orphaned by the natural calamity even as some people fear that such children would be abandoned by their relatives after they get the ex gratia relief.