Kashmir’s Epic Floods: Anger Mounts As Hundreds Of Thousands Still Stranded
By Countercurrents
13 September, 2014
Countercurrents.org
Credit: REUTERS/Adnan Abidi
Authorities in Pakistan and India are struggling to cope with raging monsoon floods which have killed more than 460 people, displaced nearly a million people, and still threaten many more.
The chief minister Jammu and Kashmir has told a TV news channel that his government was caught off guard by the devastating floods as it could not predict the magnitude of the disaster.
Omar Abdullah said his government did not have a "response... designed for waters of this level".
His government has been criticised for a delayed response, failing to provide regular briefings and insufficient rescue boats. The floods have killed more than 200 people in the state.
Credit: REUTERS/Adnan Abidi
While waters are receding, some 400,000 people are still stranded in the state and food and water supplies are running low. Rescue teams have faced public anger and there have been isolated attacks by furious flood victims on rescue teams who have asked for armed escorts.
Reuters reported that Residents of Indian Kashmir turned their wrath on state administrators for failing to provide them with succour after the worst flooding in over a century, angrily dumping food parcels into gutters.
A week into the disaster, large parts of Srinagar, the capital of Jammu and Kashmir, lay under water with many people still trapped atop their homes, and others crowded in relief camps.
Residents stranded for days by the floodwaters said that the army has selectively evacuated tourists and people according to a pre-set priority list, leaving locals to be rescued later by volunteers.
“Helicopters came, and we waved our arms,” said Aasiya Kutoo, who was living at a temporary shelter. “Nobody came for us. Nobody in our area was rescued by air.”
Pakistani military specialists blew up dykes with explosives to divert water from rivers running close to three cities, while Indian authorities admitted that relief efforts had not yet reached about 300,000 people.
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