Until last week, Srinagar roads were a rush of cars, trucks, motorbikes. Now, boats float over the city. Not vessels with fancy names, or beautiful wood carvings of the sort you see in tourists’ Facebook posts. These are rescue boats, with desperate people in them. The water has been a great leveller. Today, Srinagar’s people – young and old, men and women, poor and rich, doctor and labourer – have no identity but one: sailab zada. Flood victim.
On Saturday, almost 70% of the city was still under water. There are many places where the water is nearly 10 feet high. People are stuck in their houses, waiting on their rooftops or on the second and third floors. Some people want to move out to the safer places and are waiting for rescue teams to take them away. Some don’t. For them, their houses are the safest place they can be.
Many people are developing a familiarity with roofs they never thought they’d have. Javaid Ahmad of Jawahar Nagar, is among them. He, his wife and two children spent two days on theirs, before being rescued. “Water was entering from our second floor,” he said. “We somehow managed to find a way through to our rooftop and stayed there till the time we were taken out by locals. I could only see the rooftops of other houses. Everything else was under the water.”
In Bemina, the Khan family had to go through same trauma – two floors under water, family on the rooftop and three days of waiting for help. The area they live in is still completely submerged. “My locality and its adjoining areas offer the view of rooftops: just rooftops and nothing else,” said Parvaiz Ahmad Khan.
Everything is submerged
The situation is the same in most other parts of the city: Rajbagh, Karan Nagar, Shivpora, Indira Nagar and HMT. Even the the city centre, Lal Chowk, with its grand Ghanta Ghar (clock tower), is under water.
While most of the rescue operations are being focused on the city centre, people on the outskirts and in far-flung areas are being neglected. Among these neglected areas is Kanipora, where almost all of the residents are still trapped in their houses. The place is almost 10 kilometres away from the area where most of the rescues are in operation.
Inside a relief and rescue camp assembled in Hyderpora Chowk and managed by the Kashmiri Volunteers Delhi Fund Relief that has come from the national capital, a makeshift reception desk was being manned by two young volunteers. “Yes. Yes. Please provide us the landmark where your parents are,” said one of them on the phone. As he listened, his colleague wrote down the details. Their caller had phoned from Kuwait, seeking information about his family in Rambagh.
Hundreds of calls
“We have been taking hundreds of calls from the last three days,” said one volunteer, who gave his name as Wasif. “We take the address and the name of the person who needs to be rescued or given some relief. Then dispatch our teams there.”
The calls are coming from across India and many parts of the world. “People need information about friends and families and we try to provide them as much as we can,” Wasif said. “But the priority is given to the emergency calls which need immediate help.”
People have been using intermediaries to try to locate their families because cell-phone services have collapsed. Hyderpora is among very few places in Srinagar where the network connectivity is available.
“A lady is expecting a child in two days at Bemina,” said Wasif, as his phone continued to beep. “We got a call from her relatives and we sent a rescue team to help her.”
Supplementing the efforts of the army and the National Disaster Response Force are thousands of local volunteers. They are doing a commendable job. Syed Anwar of Bagh-e-Mehtab is among them. By Saturday, he hadn’t visited his house for last three days because he had been so busy rescuing people and sending relief material to others. or him, people who are trapped and need help are his priority than his family.
“My family is fine,” he said. “They don’t need me right now but people who are stranded do. There are so many people who need to be rescued and taken care of. Nobody is doing this and that’s why people like me are taking up this in our hands.”
Masjid committees
Masjid committees have been established to provide aid. In Jamia Masjid in Hyderpora, for instance, at least 200 families are taking shelter. “I’m not a hero. This is my duty to help my people,” said a volunteer there name Shahnawazm. “What if I was in their place?”
After rescuing almost five families in Bonpora, a 24-years-old man named Shahid asked if he could take some medicine and food home. It turned out that his home was flooded too and his family also needed help.
“I am victim," he said. "I help people. I do everything, but people don’t know me here. In fact nobody here knows anyone. Everyone here is same. Everyone here is no one”
Sheikh Saaliq is a freelance journalist. Follow him at @SheikhSaaliq.
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On Saturday, almost 70% of the city was still under water. There are many places where the water is nearly 10 feet high. People are stuck in their houses, waiting on their rooftops or on the second and third floors. Some people want to move out to the safer places and are waiting for rescue teams to take them away. Some don’t. For them, their houses are the safest place they can be.
Many people are developing a familiarity with roofs they never thought they’d have. Javaid Ahmad of Jawahar Nagar, is among them. He, his wife and two children spent two days on theirs, before being rescued. “Water was entering from our second floor,” he said. “We somehow managed to find a way through to our rooftop and stayed there till the time we were taken out by locals. I could only see the rooftops of other houses. Everything else was under the water.”
In Bemina, the Khan family had to go through same trauma – two floors under water, family on the rooftop and three days of waiting for help. The area they live in is still completely submerged. “My locality and its adjoining areas offer the view of rooftops: just rooftops and nothing else,” said Parvaiz Ahmad Khan.
Everything is submerged
The situation is the same in most other parts of the city: Rajbagh, Karan Nagar, Shivpora, Indira Nagar and HMT. Even the the city centre, Lal Chowk, with its grand Ghanta Ghar (clock tower), is under water.
While most of the rescue operations are being focused on the city centre, people on the outskirts and in far-flung areas are being neglected. Among these neglected areas is Kanipora, where almost all of the residents are still trapped in their houses. The place is almost 10 kilometres away from the area where most of the rescues are in operation.
Inside a relief and rescue camp assembled in Hyderpora Chowk and managed by the Kashmiri Volunteers Delhi Fund Relief that has come from the national capital, a makeshift reception desk was being manned by two young volunteers. “Yes. Yes. Please provide us the landmark where your parents are,” said one of them on the phone. As he listened, his colleague wrote down the details. Their caller had phoned from Kuwait, seeking information about his family in Rambagh.
Hundreds of calls
“We have been taking hundreds of calls from the last three days,” said one volunteer, who gave his name as Wasif. “We take the address and the name of the person who needs to be rescued or given some relief. Then dispatch our teams there.”
The calls are coming from across India and many parts of the world. “People need information about friends and families and we try to provide them as much as we can,” Wasif said. “But the priority is given to the emergency calls which need immediate help.”
People have been using intermediaries to try to locate their families because cell-phone services have collapsed. Hyderpora is among very few places in Srinagar where the network connectivity is available.
“A lady is expecting a child in two days at Bemina,” said Wasif, as his phone continued to beep. “We got a call from her relatives and we sent a rescue team to help her.”
Supplementing the efforts of the army and the National Disaster Response Force are thousands of local volunteers. They are doing a commendable job. Syed Anwar of Bagh-e-Mehtab is among them. By Saturday, he hadn’t visited his house for last three days because he had been so busy rescuing people and sending relief material to others. or him, people who are trapped and need help are his priority than his family.
“My family is fine,” he said. “They don’t need me right now but people who are stranded do. There are so many people who need to be rescued and taken care of. Nobody is doing this and that’s why people like me are taking up this in our hands.”
Masjid committees
Masjid committees have been established to provide aid. In Jamia Masjid in Hyderpora, for instance, at least 200 families are taking shelter. “I’m not a hero. This is my duty to help my people,” said a volunteer there name Shahnawazm. “What if I was in their place?”
After rescuing almost five families in Bonpora, a 24-years-old man named Shahid asked if he could take some medicine and food home. It turned out that his home was flooded too and his family also needed help.
“I am victim," he said. "I help people. I do everything, but people don’t know me here. In fact nobody here knows anyone. Everyone here is same. Everyone here is no one”
Sheikh Saaliq is a freelance journalist. Follow him at @SheikhSaaliq.
