Mangalore: Uttarkhand flood survivors recall their ordeal

Pics: Dayanand Kukkaje
Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (VM)

Mangalore, Jun 28: The Uttarakhand floods have ruined thousands of lives and caused irreparable loss. For the lucky ones who battled hard and managed to survive the catastrophe, it is nothing short of a second lease of life.

Here is one such story of survival, where five tour managers from Nirmala Travels recount how they survived nature’s fury and reached home along with 55 other tourists, after battling the deluge for 9 days.

The five tour managers Umesh Banjan, Narayan Shenoy, Gokuldan Shenoy, Jagannath and Lokesh reached Mangalore junction railway station on Friday June 28 and narrated their ordeal.

Tour manager Narayan Shenoy speaking to Daijiworld said they had visited the holy place and were staying in a small village which is 3 km from Gaurikund, an important Hindu pilgrimage center on the way to Kedarnath.

"The first flood began on June 16 at around 7.30 am and soon we asked our members to move to another place. The rain was continuously pouring till June 18 afternoon and hence all the members were scattered. We assembled together later, but one of our kitchen staff Ravi Kumar from Bangalore is still missing," he said.

One of the toughest tasks for these tour managers was to take their tourists to a safe place and also provide  them food. "When the food stock which we had was almost empty, we went to nearby villages in search of food. A few of the grocery stores from where we collected food and gave it to our members were inundated," said Shenoy.

"For the first time in my life I understood the true value of life and food. Thousands of people were seen begging for food from others. But people did not share even when offered a huge amount of money," he added.

Lauding the military personnel for their excellent rescue operations, the tour managers said, "All the people got food to eat only after military personnel were called for rescue operations."

The survivors saw more than two dozen buildings collapsing around them, and hundreds of people dying due to starvation.
 
Narayan Shenoy said that the above scene was the worst he had seen in his life. "As we walked through the rubble we saw dead people lying all around. A lodge, Annapoorna hotel, that was provided for us was over filled with 120 people sharing 4 rooms."
 
He lauded the government for their concern towards the people hit by the calamity and said that he never expected the government to react so swiftly with vehicles and food and accommodation being taken care of to the best of their capabilities. The government also assured that the return tickets for all were issued as fast as possible.
 
"A few of the elderly members travelled to Sonprayag via helicopter while the rest of the members climbed through an 8 km hilly region to reach Sonprayag from where we journeyed back to our home-towns," he added.
 
"Among the 55 members in our group, 22 were from Channapatna and five from Belgaum, nine from Dharmavaram, two from BC road and the rest from Bangalore city limits," he said.
 
The survivors expressed deep gratitude to God and the authorities who helped them back home safe.

The floods have wreaked large-scale devastation in the north-Indian state of Uttarakhand. Persistent efforts over the past more than 10 days have succeeded in the evacuation of more than 100,000 people, including locals, from the rain and flood-hit areas of Uttarakhand as authorities cremated more bodies in Kedarnath Thursday. Around 1,800 people are still stranded in the state. Over 1,500 roads have been swept away, while around 2,000 houses and 154 bridges have been damaged.