Left In The Cold

With winter arriving earlier than usual, a severe shortage of shelters and government aid a mere trickle, the quake survivors are fast losing hope.

PICTURE SPEAK

FACES OF DESPAIR: While officials claim to have distributed 5,000 tents in Uri, aid workers say nearly 40,000 more are required

For Abdul Rashid Khan, death may have been a better alternative. As the quake struck Khan's village near Uri along the Line of Control, his house caved in, killing six members of his family. Now as winter creeps in and relief is a mere trickle, Khan and others at Kamal Kote village are fast losing hope of getting through the cold months. "How am I going to fight the winter without any shelter?" asks Khan with only a tree protecting him from the remorseless rain.

In Uri area alone, nearly 18,000 houses have been completely damaged and an equal number partially affected in the state's worst ever natural disaster. Even as officials claim to have distributed 5,000 tents in the villages of Uri, 13,000 families continue to remain homeless and aid workers estimate that 40,000 more tents are required. B.B. Vyas, divisional commissioner, Kashmir, admits that with only one-fourth of the required tents available, the Government is facing a crippling shortage.

Worse, winter has set in earlier than usual, with the upper reaches in the most severely affected areas of Uri and Tangdhar, another town along the loc, already receiving snowfall. Tangdhar is covered by a 10-inch blanket of snow, leaving the survivors shivering, sick and miserable. Other villages, especially the less accessible ones along the loc from Uri to Karnah, face similar problems. More and more people are coming in for treatment of respiratory disorders and gastroenteritis. "We are pitched against very heavy odds. If the situation is not addressed properly, there might be an epidemic," says Dr Mohammad Iqbal, a physician from Srinagar who is camping in the affected areas.

COMPOUNDING DISASTER

PICTURE SPEAK NO RESPITE: Lone's killing has sent shockwaves through the state Even as tremors from the October 8 quake subsided, a sliver of relief ran through the Indian intelligence agencies. A large number of militants had been reportedly wiped out, and along with them, the training camps. But the relief proved shortlived. On October 18, shock gripped Jammu & Kashmir as state Education Minister Ghulam Nabi Lone was shot dead at his official residence in the high security Tulsibagh area of Srinagar. Four others, including a CRPF soldier, a militant, a Kashmir Police constable and a state government employee, were also killed, while the state CPI(M) secretary and MLA Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami barely escaped a bid on his life. Local militant groups, Al-Mansoorain and the Islamic Front, separately claimed responsibility for the attack. A doctor by profession, Lone, 62, had joined active politics in 2002 when the ruling PDP had joined mainstream politics. He is the third minister to have been killed in 16 years of insurgency that have wracked the state. In May 2000, militants had gunned down National Conference (NC) leader and then minister of state for power, Ghulam Hassan Bhat, and in September 2002, NC leader and minister of state for home, Mushtaq Ahmed Lone, was killed. Not only does the attack point to a major lapse in security-after killing the minister and his security guards, the militant came out and went past half-a-dozen CRPF personnel, police barriers and sandbag bunkers-but has also provoked a fresh debate on whether the seeming softness of militant groups towards the ruling PDP is disappearing. In the past year, the state Government has consistently claimed that militancy has lost its relevance and that Mufti Mohammed Sayeed's leadership has succeeded in raising the stakes for the people of Kashmir in "peace without any political settlement". However, the recent militant attacks have been followed by attempts to dismiss these claims. Analysts consider the latest assault a "reply" to these assertions, saying that the ongoing Indo-Pak peace process has not yielded a "single substantial political initiative" to address the political issue of Kashmir. Clearly, the Valley will have to continue to contend with more than just nature's wrath. -By Aijaz Hussain

The state and Central Governments have drawn up a three-pronged strategy involving financial assistance, construction of community shelters and making available expert opinion for raising quake-resistant structures. In the first phase "we have decided to construct 20 community centres to accommodate 300 people each", says Ghulam Nabi Azad, Union urban development minister. Three Central agencies, including HUDCO, CPWD and NBCC, have been roped in for the reconstruction. It has also been decided to provide technical assistance and Rs 1 lakh to each family which lost a house, with Rs 40,000 as first instalment. For minor damage to houses, Rs 10,000 would be given.

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OFFICIAL APATHY: Rain and snow are making relief work difficult

But with sub-zero temperatures, damage assessment and construction work have been affected. "We heard that ex gratia grant will be given to us, but are yet to see any government official assessing the damage. At least 200 houses, including mine, have been completely damaged," says Liaqat Ali of Guwalla, the last village near the loc.

Even as the Opposition National Conference leaders alleged that relief work was being conducted on the basis of party affiliations, local people and NGOs continued to provide the much needed succour-collecting relief material, hiring trucks and fanning out to remote areas to distribute it. However, even aid workers point out that rain and the resulting landslides are hindering work.

Unless help reaches the victims on time, more people may die of official apathy than the quake itself.

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