Dehradun: Uttarakhand has lost several lives in this disaster. Whether officials have placed the death count 150 on the basis of body count but it could be frighteningly higher. As flood waters ebbed and rain’s fury eased on Wednesday, snatches of Uttarakhand’s worst natural disaster were emerging.
This disaster had harmed the state till that instance that chief minister of Uttarakhand Vijay Bahugna had describe this calamity as a “Himalayan Tsunami”. Even State home minister Om Prakash said that the toll could go much higher as the process of recovery of bodies has not yet started in many places that are marooned.
The reason which raise the fear that over 70’000 persons are still missing and the rescuers are even not able to reach many towns. No one can even guess what they will find.
According to Char Dham Yatri Sangathan convenor Varinder Arora, around 25,000 pilgrims are trapped in Damta alone since Sunday, which is 70 km from Yamunotri. He said there are pilgrims from Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
The epicentre of the disaster appeared to be Kedarnath, where the 8th century temple to Lord Shiva was covered under 6 feet of sludge, its surroundings and the 18-km trek to the 3,581 meter sacred spot savaged by landslides and gushing waters. More than 60 villages had been flattened in the vicinity and 90 dharamshalas that shelter pilgrims during the May-June peak season completely destroyed.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced a Rs. 1,000-crore relief package for Uttarakhand after an aerial survey of disaster-hit areas along with UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi. He also announced ex-gratia assistance of Rs. 2 lakh each to the families of the dead and Rs. 50,000 to the injured. In addition, Rs. 1 lakh would be given to those whose houses were destroyed and Rs. 50,000 to those whose houses were damaged.
Bureau Report
Leave a Reply