The commitment of the Church in Ladakh, Kashmir during the flash Floods

(August 14, 2010) Flash floods have killed hundreds in Jammu and Kashmir State, more than the official count, says an Indian bishop. “We have sent our director of social work to survey the area and help the victims. Our parish priest and nuns in Leh district are also helping those in need,” said Capuchin Bishop Peter Celestine Elampassery of Jammu-Srinagar, whose diocese covers the entire northern Indian state that borders Pakistan on one side and China on the other. The areas worst-affected by the August 6 disaster were Leh city and Choglamasar village. Floodwaters, carrying rubble and boulders at speeds of 300 to 500 kilometres per hour, washed away people and their houses as they lay sleeping, the bishop said. Organizations engaged in relief operations estimate that 500 people died in the floods, which also destroyed some 450 houses, rendering some 3,500 people homeless. Official figures, however, said the disaster killed 166 people, including 23 foreigners, and injured 73 people. Bishop Elampassery said the number of the dead is increasing as relief and rescue workers discover bodies buried under the debris. He lamented that victims are unable to get proper relief as roads and bridges have been destroyed. The Catholic Church used its vehicles to take people to hospitals, when their school and convent were surrounded on three sides by flood water. The army joined the rescue work building refugee camps sheltering the homeless and doing primary relief work, he said. “We are hoping to send some relief material to the affected areas,” the bishop added. Caritas India, the Church’s official social service agency, said it is assessing the situation.