Indian Church and Caritas at forefront of disaster relief
June 27, 2013: "There is a lot of damage everywhere. Most of the houses have been
wiped out and landslides continue. It is impossible to set up tents to house survivors.
It will take at least another week and a half before the situation starts to improve,"
said Babita Alick, project manager for Disaster Management of Caritas India, as he
spoke to AsiaNews about the situation in Uttarkhand, the northern state of India struck
by a week by heavy floods. The Indian Church and Caritas are at the forefront
of disaster relief and assistance to victims alongside government and military personnel.
At least a thousand people are known to have died, but the number of missing runs
in the tens of thousands. "As Caritas," Babita explained, "we have just completed
the first round of interventions; the second is set to start soon. At present, we
are still engaged in rescue operations, because it is still too early to start rehabilitation
programmes for victims. It will take time before things can get back to normal." Meanwhile,
fears are growing of a possible cholera breakout. For days, the number of cases of
dysentery, fever and vomiting due to the terrible conditions in which people live
have been rising. The rain makes rescue operations hard and many survivors are trapped
in the mud, often injured, with little food, dirty water and close to corpses. For
this reason, Caritas has called on the Catholic Health Association of India. Contacted
by AsiaNews, Fr Ousepparampil Sebastian, one of the organisation's directors, said,
"We are forming a unit with emergency physicians, nurses and social workers in order
to help volunteers already in place. We will implement preventive measures to try
to contain the emergency. Between tonight and tomorrow morning, we shall know how
to equip ourselves to reach the affected areas. The endless torrential rains are still
causing landslides, making it very difficult to move around." (Source: Asia News)