UPDATE – FLASH FLOODS IN LEH, LADAKH KILLS 176; MANY VILLAGES ARE STILL UNREACHED
The toll in the devastating flash floods caused by the sudden cloudburst in Leh town in Jammu and Kashmir’s Ladakh region went up to 176, including five foreigners while the relief and rescue operations continue in Leh town and 12 villages adjacent to it.

Even as a massive relief and rescue operation continued, the state Revenue Department has begun a painstaking exercise to gauge the extent of economic damage suffered by the district. “What we feel is that 40 per cent of our infrastructure, which is irrigation canals, link roads and bridges, have been destroyed. Another 40 per cent have been partially damaged. May be 20 per cent is intact,” Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council chairman Chering Dorjay told PTI. He said the cloudburst has severely affected agriculture. “We now have a standing crop but all the irrigation canals have been washed away especially the headworks. In some places, the nallahs have become deeper by as much as 20 feet,” he said. Even at a rough estimate, it will take a minimum of two years for the disaster-hit district to be rebuilt and this would involve thousands of tonnes of cement, steel, bitumen and other construction materials, he said.

It will be an uphill task for the government to restore normality in this mountain town, devastated by the flash floods. The government as well as non-governmental sector will have to redouble efforts to at least restore a semblance of normality.

Power supply has been restored partially and water is being supplied through tankers by the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and other sources since all the streams are full of mud. The bigger challenge is reaching the missing, whose numbers vary with each passing day. With the return of people in some areas, the government had concluded that it was going down. Rescue teams are struggling through the mud to reach affected villages. “Unless and until we reach each affected village we cannot say how many are dead or how many have survived. It is a difficult task,” an official said. The immediate problem the survivors will be facing is shelter. The torrential rain has flattened villages, reducing them to slush. There is hardly any clue where the houses stood before August 5, when the cloudburst hit the town and adjacent villages. “There has to be some temporary arrangement for rehabilitating the homeless,” said an NGO worker who has been busy helping with the rescue since Friday. The Army and the Police have set up relief camps but those would be inadequate for the harsh Leh winter. Local people are extremely traumatized and fear more landslips and flooding. Meanwhile, NGOs have also issued appeals for relief to help the flood victims. The NGO ‘Save the Children' fears that the toll could climb to over 1,000 going by eye-witness reports. Several villages surrounding Leh town remain cut off from the rest of the State. (Sources: The Hindu)

CASA’s RESPONSE:
CASA’s senior programme staff landed in Leh and met with our implementing partners on 10thAugust 2010, as the flight services resumed after the disaster, to carry out the damage assessment and identify the gap areas for intervention in coordination with the district government authorities. After the initial assessment and participation in coordination meetings organized by the Government authorities and Sphere India, CASA decided to distribute essential relief items such as Pressure Cooker, Kitchen Utensils, 5 heavy woolen blankets, Solar lantern with mobile charger, and Hygiene kits. These items have been procured and are being transported for distribution.

Apart from this, CASA through its implementing partner, Mountain Himalayas Forum has also sent out a team of Disaster Mitigation Task Force to the other affected areas which have not yet been reached by  the Government or  any NGO/INGO so far to carry out the damage and need assessment. Information on such villages will be shared with the Government and NGOs/INGOs.

There is also a dire need for taking up shelter reconstruction work in the valley as many have lost their houses and are in need of shelters. The winter season with harsh temperature of minus 30 degree Celsius makes this intervention all the more essential. There is also a strong consensus between some of the NGO’s on ground that this is a priority area of work which should be implemented using a low cost common house design being developed by the Shelter Committee of Sphere, India in consultation with the beneficiaries using locally available and appropriate material under and owner driven reconstruction framework. CASA proposes to construct 100 such houses before the onset of winter.