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Journalism of Courage
For more than three days, Abdul Rashid Kissnar trudged in the snow with a broken arm, looking for survivors. All he saw were bodies buried under snow. The avalanche, on Friday evening, had flattenned his village of Waltingo Naar, along with adjoining Panchgam Naar and Nigeenpora Naar in south Kashmir.
Finally, Kissnar, accompanied by his neighbour, Ghulam-ud-Din, walked into the local hospital today — the only survivors to do so. He still doesn’t know if any of the six members of his family have survived.
Officials too fear a high death toll in the three villages, which had a combined population of about 550. ‘‘We have never seen anything like this in Kashmir. Three entire villages are gone. We fear the toll could rise to over 300. Around 65 are critically injured. At present, our men are just engaged in relief measures and distributing medical aid,’’ said CMO Dr Mohiudin Dar.
‘‘I was carrying vegetables on Friday evening, when I saw a strange sight. Snow was rolling down like a huge wave, burying everything. In a few moments, the entire village was under snow,’’ recalled Kissnar.
For over two days, he and his neighbour, Ghulam-ud-Din, saw no sign of life. Till the first team of 60 civilian aid workers and 40 doctors and paramedics arrived on Monday afternoon, carrying rations and medicines.
The injuries range from broken limbs to severe frostbites and while medical officers at the base hospital here are in touch with one of their surgeons via a cellphone, the network is erratic at best.
Moreover, caught off-guard by the record snowfall, the Anantnag district administration has been unable to clear the road leading to the villages. So police and medical officials can only rely on the surgeon to update them on the latest toll.
‘‘We spoke to our doctor half an hour ago. He told us 130 people are dead, but he said the toll could cross 300. There are about 150 villagers reported missing,’’ said Dar.
Meanwhile, angry relatives at the Qazigund market protested the administration’s ‘‘apathy’’ at not sending an official to the spot. Rescue and relief operations have been left to civilian workers, who, accompanied by medical staff, were the first to reach the affected villages.
‘‘Nobody is able to tell me if my family lives … We went to the police and district officials, who just said everything is fine. Nobody realises our pain,’’ said Bahir Ahmad Mantoo, a carpenter who has been waiting in Qazigund for the past two days to hear of his eight-member family in Waltingo Naar.
