Nature is benign, nature is furious. Human beings are innovative, they are also helpless. This may appear contradiction in terms but that is the harsh reality of creation. That is what is summed up in the triumvirate philosophy of creation, preservation and destruction. Man is mercilessly exposed to human and nature made disasters. Yet he has the strange tenacity of withstanding all this and reconstructing the devastated life. Such is the force of the law of survival. Storms, earthquakes, tsunami, cloud-bursts, thunder-bursts, epidemics, fires and floods are all manifestations of the fury of nature. Imagine how many lives these calamities have claimed in the course of evolution. Yet our struggle for unfolding more realms of knowledge never ceases to be.
One such disaster has recently befallen the upper reaches of Uttarakhand where cloudburst, landslide and flash floods wrought unimaginable havoc. Large number of houses, dharmsalas and structures have crumbled. The number of lives lost by getting buried under the debris or washed down by the floods is not known because the rescue work is still going on on a massive scale. Speculation is that such casualties could run in thousands after the full picture is available. Kedarnath is the holy shrine where pilgrims come in thousands especially in summer months to perform the pilgrimage and to escape for a while the scorching heat of summer on the plains. Philanthropic people have opened scores of dharamsalas or pilgrim rest houses where habitual visitors to Kedarnath would come and stay. So far 90 of such rest houses have been destroyed in the flash flood and nothing is known about their denizens whether they managed to survive or were washed away by the gushing waters of the flooded Ganges.
The redeeming point in this scenario of devastation and destruction, which have affected almost more than 36,000 people, is the quick deployment of relief agencies, the army, ITBP, and Border Force personnel and equipment to save as many lives as is physically possible and to provide relief to those who have lost everything and have escaped with bare life. Huge multi-agency rescue and relief enterprise is underway at the affected spot. Air Force has deployed 20 Mi-17s and 16 Advanced Light Helicopters in the State where they have evacuated over 1,500 people. This is a relief work of massive scale and hopefully very soon mud and slush will be cleared to find out if dead bodies were buried under the mass.
More than fifty thousand people are reported to be stranded in different parts of the State and despite difficulty of accessibility, their rescue work continues in full speed. The ITBP DG, who is also in-charge of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), said 17 bodies were recovered by the troops of the specialized force from the Kedarnath area. Defence Ministry swung into action soon after the news of the disaster was broken. More than 10,000 army men besides men in uniforms from other organizations are deployed on duty. There is perfect coordination among the relief work agencies and that is something highly appreciable. The army has so far rescued 20,000 people.
The entire nation is in deep sorrow for this enormous disaster and sympathizes with the victims. But at the same time the nation is feeling relieved that various public and private organizations have moved fast immediately after the news of disaster was broken. Relief work is on full swing. Those whose near and dear ones are missing, dead, wounded or debilitated should refer to the concerned relief and rescue authorities as this will help authorities in ascertaining the exact loss in terms of men and material. However at the same time, it is also the moral duty of the civil society to play its desired role in mitigating the suffering of the affected people in whatever way possible. We think that it would be feasible to organize local committees for collecting relief material through voluntary donations including relief funds and pass these on to the accredited representatives of the affected people. The Indian civil society should also come forward to raise sufficient funds that would be utilized in rehabilitation work for the affected people.
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