WUNRN
Disasters, both natural, climate generated, and man-made, can instantly transform women’s lives from normal to catastrophic. Often, news coverage tells facts, and more rarely shows photos of women in the throes of disaster. This WUNRN release gives both – the facts of the current flooding in Southeast Asia, AND the personalized, sensitive story of a Kashmir woman who was away when the floods first hit in September, and then returned to see the destruction, considered the worst flooding in Kashmir in 60 years. She shares the very human reflections of this natural disaster, and her own shock. In Kashmir, as after the tsunami, and following these current floods in SE Asia, the personal, emotional disaster continues; and women try to rebuild their lives, their hopes and dreams…..but not really!!
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December 27, 2014 - http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2014/12/severe-flooding-hits-southeast-asia-201412275647819859.html
Severe Flooding Hits Southeast Asia
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MALAYSIA
& THAILAND AMONG COUNTRIES AFFECTED, WITH MORE THAN 180,000 DISPLACED
& 13 PEOPLE KILLED |
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http://thewip.net/2014/11/12/kashmir-floods-please-dont-panic-we-will-reach-you/
INDIA - KASHMIR FLOODS – TRAUMATIC & SUSTAINED
DETAILS THROUGH WOMAN’S DESCRIPTIVE LENS
By Lubna Reshi – November 12, 2014
-Indian-administered Kashmir-
Srinagar is not the same as when I left in mid-August. I feel
like I have returned to a warzone. Devastation and desolation is overwhelming
and Kashmir, known for its serene environment, is no longer welcoming.
Everything in the capital of Indian-administered Kashmir has been left barren
by the floods which hit the city on September 7, 2014.
Three
weeks after the floods, and a number of places in Kashmir were still submerged
under water. Photo courtesy of the author.
In recent
years, flooding throughout the region has increased and many believe it may be
linked to climate change. But, lack of management is considered to be a key
factor in the tragedy befallen on the state of Jammu and Kashmir. “The disaster
management of the state is rudimentary. The State has not been prepared to
handle such extreme rainfall events. In fact, [Jammu and Kashmir] does not have
a flood forecasting system,” says Chandra Bhushan, Deputy Director General of
the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) and head of its climate change
team.
While in
Sweden in August at a leadership program, I had no news of my family for the
first five days of floods. My cousins living outside Kashmir would console me
when they themselves had no news of family back home. Whatever information I
could get was through Internet postings by Kashmiri’s living outside. To catch
a network to call me, my family scaled a mountain. Shortly after hearing them
speak, the network went off. However, it was satisfying to learn that they were
fine.
This
year’s flood was the worst in our region in 60 years and the economy of Kashmir
is the worst hit. It is believed that Kashmir has been pushed back nearly 100
years by this disaster.
As I
return to Kashmir move through the city of Srinagar, there are make-shift tents
almost everywhere. Relief camps have been run in mosques, schools, and other
community buildings for those who have lost their homes.
Recounting
his tale of terrors, Zubair Bhat, my friend, tells me: “There was nothing but
water. It was in my colony; it was in my garden and it was in my house.” Zubair
saw water growing inch by inch devouring house after house. “We watched it
swelling and consuming everything. I hoped that it would not enter my house but
by the evening everything was floating in water.”
Asiya, a
cousin from Jawahar Nagar, cannot get her mind off of the moment she saw her
house collapsing. Torrents of tears flow through her eyes as she recalls that
evening. “I watched it falling like house of cards.”
Water
headed towards her house with such a gushing speed that she had no time to pack
her valuables. “By the time my husband and brother-in-laws came to inform us
about floods it had already made an entry into my home.”
Asiya
lives with her parents now and is hopeless about rebuilding her life again.
“Whatever we had earned all these years was taken away by the water. We are
left with no money to erect it again.”
People
have begun to recuperate from the damage they met but the relief they get from
the government is not sufficient to cover the need. So far, the government has
covered 1.5 lakh affected families (150,000) while the number of houses damaged
was 2.4 lakh (240,000), as reported by Greater Kashmir, a local newspaper in Kashmir. The government
has only provided 75,000 INR ($1,219 USD)to those who have completely lost
their abodes and 3800 INR ($62 USD) for those whose houses had been partially
damaged – but people say they can never build their houses again with such meagre
amounts.
“We have
not lost any small thing which can be brought back with a few bucks. Government
should know what we have lost,” says Farooq Ahmad, a resident of Jawahar Nagar.
The Indian government has also been widely criticized for the delayed response
to the disaster that has put life on halt.
People
are aghast over the response of government. “First they left us to die and now
they aren’t coming forward to help us,” writes blogger Sakooter Speaks. She, along with her two kids, were rescued
out of her home by her husband’s friend, not by government-appointed rescuers.
As the
water levels became fiercer, the Army was called in. The Army, which is notorious
for carrying out human rights violations in Kashmir, were portrayed as heroes
by the media. However, the situation on the ground was quite the contrary. “We
heard and saw helicopters move in the sky. Some people took out flags with red
cloth and started waving them to get attention. The helicopters obviously were
not interested in saving any of us,” writes Sakooter.
Khalida,
who lives with her two kids in Bemina area of Srinagar, says: “I was stranded
on the top floor of my house for five days with my two kids.” For three days
she survived, living on leftover pieces of bread. As she saw the Army boats
passing by, she sought help from them, which proved to be futile.
“The
troopers who were carrying out the so-called rescue ops came near my house. I told
them my children are starving. They assured me to return with some food but
were never to be seen again. Had it not been for the locals, my children would
have been no more today.”
Kashmiris
– be it behind laptops screens updating the situation, mobilizing the relief,
battling the water on the ground, or raising money in foreign lands – did all
the rescuing. When there were no resources, groups of youth took to the street
and began volunteering in rescue operations. They discussed their course of
action through social networking sites and in person. They branched out to
different areas affected by the floods and rescued thousands of people. Had
they waited for authorities to take the charge, scores of people would have
lost their lives.
“We
couldn’t have waited for government measures for it would have been too late,”
Burhan, one of the volunteers, states. According to Naqash Rohan, a blogger and
a volunteer, in one part of Jawahar Nagar alone 40 houses collapsed.
This
natural calamity tested the patience of the Kashmiri people. When rescue was
not timely, people helped themselves. They made their own boats – some were
made out of water tanks and some by tying water bottles to a pile of
mattresses.
One of
the main criticisms against the government is that it did not sound out a
warning or begin evacuating people when meteorological forecasts had predicted
a long spell of unending rain. When the flood struck, the authorities, by their
own admissions, were also stranded and the government went into limbo. Public
anger rose after reports surfaced that ministers and their families were
evacuated first and moved to Jammu and Delhi.
Many say
that it is ironic that at the time of crisis the only government reaction,
which came from Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, was a tweet which reads: “please don’t panic, we will reach you, I
promise.” But after this he abandoned everybody and was only seen moving around
in a chopper, air dropping relief.
When
Manzoor Ahmad, stranded in the attic of a children’s hospital in Srinagar,
heard a plane hovering over hospital, he was shocked. “I saw Chief Minister
Omar Abdullah with my own eyes. I tried to get his attention but he changed the
course of his chopper.”
According
to a study conducted by a group of volunteers titled ‘Kashmir Floods: A Rapid
Assessment,’ just 2 percent of the flood victims were saved by Indian forces
while the rest were all rescued by the local volunteers. The report states that
the claims made by media about rescue operations were only hype when in
actuality no forces turned up for the help of people.
The study
further notes that of the 26 refugee centres catering to the huge number of
affected, 23 were run and managed by local volunteers. Of the remaining three,
two were run by NGO’s, leaving only one operated by the state.
The
people of Kashmir have met the worst disaster in decades from which it will
take years to recuperate. There are many who are still putting up in tents by
the road sides even as mercury is dipping in Kashmir. The government is out of
reach to many and help is still needed.
Lubna
Reshi is a researcher and a journalist. Being from a conflict zone she
believes it is her responsibility to be a voice of the Kashmiri people so that
they would be heard in world over. She has a PG in journalism from Islamic
University of Science and Technology in Kashmir and right now she is pursuing a
M.Phil in journalism from University of Kashmir. She has written for various
publications which include Rising Kashmir, Kashmir Dispatch, and Counsellor
magazine. hervoice.co is an
e-zine which she started last year to bring forth stories of Kashmiri women so
that world will read them, know them, and someday come forward to help them.
Follow Lubna on Twitter at @_LubnaReshi.