Floods in Kashmir wane but fear of disease rises

Srinagar/New Delhi: Flood waters started receding in Kashmir Valley on Wednesday giving a chance to civil and military rescue teams to reach lakhs of stranded people but anger mounted over the pace of relief efforts and concerns grew over potential spread of water-borne diseases.

Rescuers evacuated another 32,500 people to safety taking to 80,000 the number of people pulled out in a continuing multi-agency mammoth operation even as an estimated 5-6 lakh people still waited for help after floods ravaged Jammu and Kashmir.

The floods were stated to be the worst in 109 years after rains pummelled the state on 2 September. Hectic efforts were underway to gradually restore the snapped communication links, which had hampered rescue work.

As the state government came under criticism over its handling of relief work, chief minister Omar Abdullah said he understood people’s anger.

An NDRF jawan was attacked by angry locals in Srinagar while few other personnel of the force were heckled while they were rendering relief and rescue operations in the flood-hit areas.

Senior Congress leader Saifuddin Soz was also heckled when he went to visit a relief camp in Humama in Srinagar on Tuesday amid shouts of “go back”.

Omar described the flood situation as a “serious humanitarian crisis” but rejected criticism his government was not doing enough.

“We have really been overwhelmed. We have been overwhelmed by the scale of the problem,” he said. “I understand their anger and I don’t grudge them on that anger. They have gone through an extremely difficult time,” he said, as hundreds of locals gave vent to their anger complaining they were not getting any relief material like food, medicines or blankets.

Meena Ahmed, a flood victim residing in Qayoom Colony in Rawalpora, wept and begged for urgent relief.

“We want food and water urgently. Please give us.” Omar said the main source of worry for him was the likely spread of diseases after water level in flood-hit areas recedes.
“Water levels are receding faster than I expected.” He said hours before the onset of heavy rains warnings were issued from mosques and police stations that people should move to higher locations but they were largely ignored.

In general, the water level was receding but areas downstream of Jhelum river are experiencing increase in water levels, PRO, Defence, colonel G.D. Goswami said in Jammu.

“In Srinagar town there is a decrease in water level by 3-4 feet since the beginning of the floods, whereas there is a rise of 6 inches in Wuller lake,” he said.

Srinagar town remained the most critical part of flood relief efforts on Tuesday. Areas of Rajbag, Jawahar Nagar, Gogji Bag and Shivpora where the bulk of the stranded people are located saw a step up in evacuation efforts.

Dozens of boats were also pressed into service while food packets were dropped from air. A total of 79 transport aircraft and helicopters of India Air Force and army aviation corps were carrying out non-stop rescue and relief operations while army has deployed one lakh troops. National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams also scaled up their rescue efforts.

Government rushes three more NDRF teams

Government has rushed three more teams of NDRF to Jammu and Kashmir to bolster rescue and relief operations in flood-affected areas.

Sources said the teams have been airlifted from various parts of the country and have been inducted to affected regions of Kashmir valley.

Each National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) team comprises about 50 personnel equipped with rescue and communication gadgets.

The force, officials said, has rescued a total of 18,647 people till now from marooned areas even as they have begun delivering eatables and drinking water to those people who want to stay back.

"At some places, we are encountering families and people who want to be provided food and essential eating items as they think they can sustain themselves for sometime. We are also delivering supplies like ready-to-eat food, medicines, drinking water and blankets to the needy," NDRF chief O P Singh, who is supervising operations from Srinagar, said.

The force has so far deployed 150 boats for rescue operations even as it plans to induct a fresh batch of these by tomorrow morning.

The force, along with the Army and Indian Air Force, has been at the forefront of rescue operations in the worst-ever floods the state is facing.