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J-K flood fury |
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10 who worked 24/7, giving aid, hope
Putting others before self, family
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The big task of putting Srinagar back together It will be a long haul for the state government and the people to pick up the pieces, rebuild the region and restore some kind of normalcy. With infrastructure battered, communication links snapped and most areas still submerged, it will be a challenge to assess the damage. All will have to do their bit to get the state past this catastrophe. By Ehsan Fazili, Ravi Krishnan Khajuria, Muhammad Aamir Khan, Amir Karim Tantray, Majid Jahangir and Sumit Hakhoo
The
devastation caused by the J&K floods has been immense. Routine life has been thrown out of gear and various urban and rural infrastructure across the state, including residential and government office buildings, vital installations of the Centre, educational institutions and market places, have been brought down like a house of cards. While the government is now engaged in relief work, it will be challenging to assess the exact extent of damage and find out if the infrastructure needs to be refurbished, or a new plan is required to rebuild Srinagar. It was after about 10 days of the inundation that the Srinagar district administration got into the action mode. “The Deputy Commissioner has directed all patwaris, girdawars, naib-tehsildars and tehsildars to immediately start damage assessment in their areas,” reads a message circulated via the BSNL SMS service. There has been no contact with officials as communication links have failed following the disruption of telephone and mobile services. This has been the worst-ever devastation. “Situation in Kashmir is as grim as it was in Uttarakhand last year,” a defence spokesman stated on September 6, when the floods had engulfed parts of south Kashmir. The Jhelum wreaked havoc from Khannabal to Khadinyar, encompassing the Valley from the south to north. In Srinagar, posh colonies like Rajbagh and Jawahar Nagar were flooded in the first onslaught. These colonies, particularly Jawahar Nagar, have come up over four decades ago. The J&K Government was caught off-guard when the waters hit the city and shattered infrastructure all over. For the past few years, experts had been warnings against a massive flood and the state and Central governments failed to take any timely and appropriate steps to prevent the disaster. Negligence and poor preparation only made the losses worse. It is for the first time that Srinagar has faced the wrath of floods and the waters have breached embankments of the Jhelum in urban Srinagar and the downtown area. The floods have hit hard the education, health, tele-communication and other services. Residential houses and educational institution in Jawahar Nagar, Tulsi Bagh, Raj Bagh and Bemina have suffered immense damage. Question remains whether the old buildings of various schools will be safe for normal functioning. The immediate requirement is to reconstruct the embankment to streamline the water flow and prevent any further damage. Inundated areas have to be drained out and preventive medical facilities have to be made available.
Preventing floods
Health
The biggest casualty has been the healthcare sector, which according to preliminary estimates by the state Health Ministry has suffered losses to the tune of nearly Rs 110 crore. The floods have badly damaged the health infrastructure. The major hospital of Srinagar, the Shri Maharaja Hari Singh (SMHS) Hospital, which would cater to thousands of patients every day was the worst hit. Its ground floor, housing costly equipment like MRI and CT Scan machines has been ravaged by the waters. The initial estimate of the damage here has been put at Rs 100 crore. The lone maternity hospital in the Valley, Lal Ded, was marooned. The blood bank and oxygen centre of the hospital was submerged, but the operating theatre, neonatal care room and labour rooms on the upper floor have not been damaged. The first floor of the Bone and Joint Hospital was inundated. The hospital was shut on September 7 and major equipment and support services were badly hit. The GB Panth Children Hospital — the only children’s hospital, SKIMS Bemina and many private hospitals were also badly hit. The only functional healthcare centres are now at relief camps, where doctors from nearby localities have volunteered and medicines are coming from outside the state. SKIMS Soura is the only major hospital in Srinagar which worked during the floods, albeit with limited facilities and staff as it was not hit by the floods. Few private hospitals also provided emergency medical help. The immediate need is to flush out the waters and restart the operations of these hospitals.
Present status
state government
Almost all government buildings and offices in Srinagar city were submerged, paralysing its functioning. After the floods hit the city, the state government was not visible on the ground. Only Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and a handful of ministers were seen in helicopters. All other government functionaries, be it ministers, top bureaucrats, police officials and others had disappeared. Official accommodation of ministers, government employees and private buildings, hired by government to accommodate its employees were inundated. It was only after five days of floods that few government officials were visible on the ground. Most offices are closed and employees are reluctant to rejoin their duties, which is not serving the cause of the government. Since the main Civil Secretariat building in still flooded, the government has decided to function from the old secretariat building in
Srinagar.
Present status
Hygiene
The epidemic threat is now the biggest worry for the over 12 lakh population in Srinagar. Days after the floodwaters ravaged the city, the streets are stinking, with heaps of garbage floating around. It is becoming increasingly difficult for the people to move around. The areas around Bemina, Jawahar Nagar, Rajbagh and Jehangir Chowk are smelling so foul that walking through the streets would give a person an instant headache. The carcasses of animals have not been cleared. Officials say that their The majority of cases received in the city hospitals and relief camps are related to hygiene issues. With scarcity of drinking water supply and stagnant water everywhere, the problems of the people have been aggravated. The water contains human excreta, cow dung, carcasses and household litter, making it a source of water-borne diseases like diarrhoea and gastroenteritis. The immediate need is to dispose of waste from localities and to flush out the water. With many areas still marooned, experts say heavy duty pumps must be procured in large quantities. Affected localities have been fumigated, largely by socio-religious organisations and local volunteers.
Present status
business On September 4, after days of incessant downpour, the Kashmir Traders Federation had issued a statement, urging the government to pay special attention towards shopkeepers whose businesses had been affected. Several traders suffered huge losses and rainwater had already entered the premises of several business establishments. It was when the Jhelum embankments breached, that thousands of shops and business establishments were hit by the floodwater. The traders claim that the losses are “unimaginable”. While the government has begun the process of assessing losses, the business community is planning to do the same. “Right now we are not in a position to estimate the losses. Many shopkeepers have lost everything and are on the roads. We will soon start assessing how much damage the floods have caused to the business community. We will come out with the figures and also a policy. The government has to come forward in a big way,” says Siraj Ahmad, chief spokesman of the Kashmir Economic Alliance, an amalgam of various associations of traders and hoteliers. The traders are also worried about the pace of de-watering. “A place like Lal Chowk has remained inundated for over 10 days now. If this is the plight of our city centre, one can imagine the pace of de-watering at other places,” he says. While several shops are still submerged, shopkeepers at other places say they will have to start from scratch. “My photostat machine, which was my sole source of income, has been damaged. I had invested in it,” says Abdul Rauf, a shopkeeper near Magarmal Bagh Chowk. “I have no idea how we can be compensated and if calculating the exact losses to the business community is possible,” he adds. The process of loss assessment will take time. “We will first hold a meeting before beginning the process of calculating losses. But to hold the meeting, all representatives of various bodies need to be communicated with. There is no communication with many of our members and we do not know where they are because phones are not working at many places,” says
Siraj. defence The Army, which was the first to react when the devastating deluge struck, has suffered considerable damage to its infrastructure in Srinagar district. From hospitals to helipads, ammunition stores and yards of vehicles in low-lying areas of Srinagar, the floodwater inundated everything that came its way. “We lost two men in a rescue operation in Pulwama. Our infrastructure has been damaged and we have got down to the task of assessing it,” says a senior Army source. The arms and ammunition from inundated ammunition depots would be sent to ordnance factories to examine their efficacy. The weapons would also be subjected to an inspection by a team of experts from Delhi, he adds. Special funds have to be allocated to the Army, especially in areas under the jurisdiction of 15 Corps, 16 Corps and Western Command to overcome the deficiencies,” he added Present status communication After the floods forced the closure of the Srinagar-Jammu national highway, the breakdown of the mobile and telephone network completely cut off the Valley. Kashmiris living outside the Valley or abroad, and those in Srinagar remained unaware about the whereabouts of their kin. Breakdown of mobile connectivity only made it worse. With people trying to save themselves and trying to reach out to their families, Kashmiris living outside the state vented their frustration on social networking websites. And when phones started ringing in uptown places like Sanatnagar and Rawalpora, people were flooded with calls from abroad. “I was among the few whose Internet and phone started working. I received many calls and messages. I told them that my situation was the same. I was neither able to go to submerged places where their kin lived nor was I able to call them because phones were not working,” says Imran Nabi, a resident of Sanatnagar. Even as claims of restoration of mobile connectivity are being made, the common man is not impressed. “Two weeks down, people are protesting the slow pace of restoration of cellular service. The government was not capable of dealing with this unprecedented flood, but if people are still facing mobile connectivity issues, the government has to take full responsibility for not intervening in the way it should have,” says a local. Present status transport The closure of the Srinagar-Anantnag, Srinagar-Baramulla and the airport road for many days hampered movement. Roads and interior lanes in the city have been severely damaged, but the exact loss is still to be estimated. Many bridges and culverts have also been damaged. Now, Srinagar has been connected with the rest of India with help from Army engineers and the BRO. While the Chief Minister has directed roads and building department to repair major bridges and roads immediately, the magnitude of devastation is massive and a nightmare for the agencies. The severe damage to the road network, particularly in far-flung hilly areas, will have the Air Force on its toes to help in winter stocking in the Valley and snow-bound areas of the Jammu region which remains cut-off from November to April. Present status
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10 who worked 24/7, giving aid, hope Kamran Ali drives a Tavera and ferries tourists to Kashmir's picturesque locations. On September 4, when parts of the city started getting flooded, he decided to keep his vehicle ready for any medical emergency, free of cost. He posted the message on Facebook. By evening, he had ferried two patients, including a pregnant woman, to hospital. Next day, he was joined by two friends who cooked meals for attendants in hospitals. They prepared 400 packets of rice and distributed it at the Lal Ded maternity hospital and SMHS Hospital. The situation was not yet alarming, but rain was falling incessantly. They also created a Facebook page - Self-Help Group for Kashmir Flood Victims - where they shared their contact numbers, seeking information about flood-hit families and those in need of food and first-aid. On September 6, the number of volunteers reached 10, including management graduates, engineers and entrepreneurs. They bought packets of milk, baby food and prepared meals for distribution in inundated areas, and for families who had taken refuge in mosques and schools. By the time dusk fell, rain had stopped after four days and the sky was clear for the first time. They were done with the distribution of relief material and were charting the next course. “We will go to south Kashmir tomorrow,” one of them said. Nature, however, had other plans. During the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday, the Jhelum erupted in fury, flooding the city. The contact numbers of the self-help group kept ringing the entire night. The first SOS was from the Lal Ded hospital. “Someone called us and sought 50 volunteers to help evacuate the ground floor,” a group member says. At 2.30 am, another SOS came. A family in Raj Bagh sought help. “They kept saying water was entering their second floor and pleaded to be rescued,” says another group member. “It was the dead of night and we were as helpless as those seeking help,” he says. At dawn, the volunteers met again. The city was in chaos. The SOS calls kept coming. “The most heart-wrenching call was from a young mother who said her son had slipped from her hands and was drowning in the room. She kept begging us to not drop the call. We informed a local administration official, but he expressed helplessness.” The worst was yet to come. The communication link shut down and people were not sure what was happening. Srinagar was shrinking in the vastness and fury of water. New areas were getting submerged, some of them disappearing under 20 feet of water. The volunteers also lost contact with one another. Some of them reached the BSNL exchange and helped officials to troubleshoot network connectivity as the main switching centre at Lal Chowk (the city centre) was submerged. The group formed a temporary online base where they shared regular updates. Over the next few days, it was the only link between Kashmir and the outside world as people from across the globe called to know about the whereabouts of their friends and family. Each day, they were receiving nearly 400 calls. “It was tough. We had to be strong,” the volunteer says, adding “people were crying and sometimes it was difficult to understand what they were saying. All we could do was give them hope.” Kamran Ali says the initiative was his duty towards his people. The group has set up four medical camps, where doctors work on a voluntary basis. Free medicines are being provided by donors from as far as Bangalore and
Mumbai.
‘Tough days’
It was very tough. We had to be strong. People were crying and sometimes it was difficult to understand what they were saying as they were sobbing. All we could do at that moment was offer them
hope. —A volunteer |
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Putting others before self, family
On the night of September 6, the two canals surrounding his locality began to swell. Within hours, water engulfed the ground floor of his two-storeyed house and he spent the night on a bridge. The following morning, Wani, along with a few volunteers, reached Zero Bridge near the submerged Raj Bagh, a posh locality. “I saw the rich beg for water. It was a painful sight,” he says. Wani rescued two children from the bridge. “We took the children to their relative’s home and on the way, had a near-death experience when our vehicle had to wade through 5-ft water. It was a miracle how we survived that nightmare,” he says. It was five days later that Wani was able to reach his flooded home, when the water level around his house receded. It was a horrifying sight. “The walls of my house were damaged. Its mud coating had eroded. Had it been a few more days, the house would have collapsed,” he says. Instead of joining his family in repairing and cleaning the house, Wani decided to carry on the volunteer work. He moved around the flooded localities with food and medicines. On the 13th day, Wani spent the night at his home. The next day, he was back as a volunteer. — Azhar Qadri |
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Encroachments along water bodies, including residential structures and government installations, must be banned. Several rivulets in rural areas and semi-urban centres have been choked due to illegal construction. During monsoon, these rivulets overflow, causing excessive water discharge in rivers. This happens only during summer. During winter, snow gets accumulated along the high mountains, which reduces the water level in the Jhelum and its tributaries. The other reason is the conversion of agricultural land into residential colonies, leaving less space for irrigation water that flows through the paddy fields during summer. The government has encouraged vertical construction for residential houses, but there has been little response. 
The