Ramban Cloudburst

Jammu and Kashmir is in a state of shock and grief as the cloudburst struck the Ramban district in Jammu region of the Union Territory (UT). This has caused immense damage to the life and property of the people. In this tragedy that ultimately led to the flash floods and landslides three people were killed and nearly 350 people were rescued. This also caused the blockage of the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway at many places bringing the life and the traffic movement to a standstill. As thousands of vehicles were stranded on the national highway due to this natural calamity. What is shocking is that three to four cloudbursts between 1am and 3 pm on Sunday in the Ramban town, Seri Bagna areas numerous houses, shops and other structures have been damaged and hundreds of vehicles have got either damaged or trapped in the debris. The intensity of the cloud bursts was so high that the parked vehicles rolled into the gorges. In this emergency situation the SDRF and police teams have swung into action besides the Army has also started its operations to rescue the people. This calamity demands a comprehensive outreach by the civil and police administration to restore the normal lives of the people in the Ramban district. Once the rescue operations are over then it will be known as to what is the quantum of the exact casualties. For the time being, there is an urgent need to locate the affected people to secure areas or makeshift camps from where they can at least stabilise themselves. This calamity has sent them into a state of shock. The number of people injured in this emergency cannot be accessed accurately as the debris are being cleared. Once debris are cleared, the number and the exact state of their injured people will also be known. There is a need for medical teams equipped with doctors and para medical staff that can provide immediate treatment to the affected people. Civil society in Jammu and Kashmir too needs to make efforts to stabilise the lives of the people at Ramban. The 2014 deluge that devastated Kashmir has enabled the people of the UT to learn hard lessons that natural calamities arrive abruptly and wreck the lives of the people. It goes to the credit of the people in Jammu and Kashmir that the common masses and the civil society besides the self-help groups joined hands with each other and helped the affected people to limp back to normalcy. That spirit must be reignited and people of Jammu and Kashmir must extend helping hands to their brethren in Ramban so that the tradition of brotherhood and humanity is reinforced. These are the testing times. And it is the time of adversity that brings out human qualities at all levels. Both ,the common masses and the UT government must join hands to stabilise the lives of the people in Ramban. There is a need for relief and rehabilitation at the earliest. So that people are not made to suffer for too long. School going children and the students of various hues must be brought back to the institutions even if it means the makeshift ones. So that their studies don’t suffer. This will become possible only when the living conditions are made good and shelter is provided to the victims. The Central Government must also enable the best possible help to the people ate Ramban in terms of rebuilding their homes and lives besides the availability of technologically advanced resources.