In ghost town Kedarnath, amid bodies, captain looks for brother #Kedarnath : The first impression that Kedarnath now gives is that of a ghost town. While all the stranded pilgrims here had been rescued by Sunday, the furious rain of stones and slush has left behind a trail of devastation. Buildings stand torn apart, rooms now are only half standing, while lodges are filled with slush. Only the temple itself got saved, due to its stone structure. However, while the damage to it has been slight, the scenes inside are as devastating. None is as stark as the one right at the entrance, before the deity. A young man lies dead with his arms over the body of a child. Inches behind them are the remains of a woman, her hands swollen, trying to hold on to them. “It seems the man was trying to protect the child with his arms around her shoulders. The woman also tried to catch on. As the water and mud engulfed them, they fell down and have been frozen ever since,” said Ganesh Godial, the chairman of the Badrinath-Kedarnath temple committee who reached the shrine Saturday morning. After days of recee, a total of 48 bodies have been marked out in Kedarnath, among the worst hit in Uttarakhand’s flood disaster last week. Hundreds remain buried under several feet of mud. The temple committee, whose 18 pujaris and functionaries have not been found, estimates that the number of missing people in the town could touch the 3,000 mark. One of the National Disaster Relief Force troopers who has been camping here and coordinating rescue efforts for six days has given Kedarnath a new name: ‘Graveyard town’. A town whose dead remain uncounted. But for rain hitting air operations briefly in the morning, rescue efforts continued all day on Sunday with 12,000 more people being taken to safety across the state, including from Badrinath, Junglechatti and Harshil areas. According to estimates, 10,000 people may still be stranded in three areas, including Badrinath. At least 5,000 people may have been killed in the deluge, state Disaster Management Minister Yashpal Arya told reporters after an aerial survey of affected areas. The official death toll as of Saturday was 680. What has added urgency to the rescue is the Met Department’s warning of light to moderate rain in the region from Monday. More than 80,000 pilgrims have been evacuated so far, with the worst-hit areas being Rudraprayag, Chamoli and Uttarkashi districts where the shrines of Kedarnath, Badrinath, Gangotri and Yamunotri are located. Inside the Kedarnath shrine, a heavy layer of silt has accumulated, nearly covering the shivling that is the main object of worship. A woman’s black handbag lies in the mud, a mobile phone and a packet of medicines sticking out. NDRF rescue teams have till now refrained from going through belongings such as these or trying to identify the dead. As per protocol, identification of the dead can start only after the local police reaches and supervises operations. The first state police team headed by a DSP reached the shrine Saturday evening. “We have marked out 48 bodies till now that are visible in the rubble. These would be identified once police come. The toll will go up as most buildings are under several feet of mud,” Inspector Shailender Kumar of the NDRF said. While more than 120 bodies have been recovered from the Kedarnath area so far, realistic estimates of the death toll in the town will take some time as the NDRF and ITBP teams have been focused on evacuating those stranded. Local construction teams are expected to reach Kedarnath and start digging up the 10-15 feet of slush, after which an estimate may be provided. ITBP teams have got reports from local goat herders or ‘bakarwals’ that at several locations along the long path down to the Kedarnath base camp, as well as alternate routes that people took after the floods hit, casualties have taken place due to exposure to cold, lack of food and dehydration. Among those clinging to hope is a young Army captain, who braved the elements and harsh terrain to reach Kedarnath. His mission is to find his brother who was one of the pujaris at the shrine and who has been missing since the deluge. After spending an entire day searching in the ruins, turning over dozens of dead bodies, several unrecognisable, he said he was happy. He has not found any trace of his 27-year-old brother, who got married barely six months ago, and so, there can only be hope. “He knew the mountains,” the captain said. “He must have climbed up to escape the waters and is somewhere in the mountains. He will soon reach the plains.”
Posted on: Mon, 24 Jun 2013 15:26:06 +0000
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