Recent natural calamity due to cloud burst, followed by flood and landslides in Uttarakhand has claimed more than 5000 lives. The numbers of people stranded, seriously injured, and missing are in hundreds and thousands.
Transporting relief material to remote communities
The deluge has also swept away buildings and homes and destroyed major roads, bridges, and vast tracts of farmland. Most of the victims are Hindu pilgrims and villagers in remote locations of the mountain ranges. Considering the devastation media has termed it as ‘Himalayan Tsunami’. The devastation started on June 16, but the aftermath continues to affect communities in the area. As long as the rescue operation is not complete and temporary mending for the disconnected roads are not made, one cannot for sure tell the exact figure of deaths, missing persons, and financial losses.
The carcasses of livestock in rivers and streams have contaminated so many of the water sources. But people are desperate and are being forced to consume water they wouldn’t otherwise. People fear the outbreaks of water-borne diseases such as cholera, diarrhoea and dysentery, because admission of people in hospitals and medical camps is increasing. Cremating innumerable dead bodies is a real challenge for authorities.
Staff from CSS provide counseling support to women, children, and elderly facing trauma from disaster floods
It’s difficult to know how many people exactly have been hit by this tragedy but based on initial reports from the field and the census figures for these areas, it is easily hundreds of thousands of people who will need support. Official reports deem that people are in immediate needs of basic aid such as dry food, clean drinking water, clothes, medicines, tarpaulin sheets for shelter and blankets. Scattered and remote villages and worsening weather conditions provide challenges in reaching the suffering people.
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