8216;It8217;s a miracle I am alive8217;

'I found shelter in the hut of a dead cattle herder'

With Kedarnath town highly unstable and barely any standing buildings,those spending the night here need to find shelter wherever possible. For the rescue troopers,this means a plastic sheet spread under the open skies at a safe distance from the site of destruction given that tents have not been air dropped as yet.

I found shelter in the hut of a dead cattle herder. A stone structure,eight ft long and five ft wide,covered with plastic sheets,the hut was sparsely equipped two blankets,quilts and an umbrella hanging in a corner. Another corner had a sack full of cattle feed.

Sadly,its occupants will never again see the spectacular view set on a mountain ridge overlooking two small glaciers that are slowly trickling down,and the Kedarnath shrine in the valley.

Bir Singh,a cattle herder who had been coming to sell milk at Kedarnath for the past 14 years,was among those swept away. A regular at the town,this time he had brought his 15-year-old son,Bipin. When the tragedy stuck,the father and son were delivering milk at the temple.

After he saw massive amount of water flowing down,Bir got on top of a building and waved to people to move to higher ground. The waters swept away the building in front of my eyes, recalled Lakpat Singh,another cattle herder.

They belonged to the same village and had been working together for years. He told the story of his friends death to a stranger in the very hut from which they walked out for the shrine on the fateful day. It was a miracle that saved me. Bir told me to go and check on one of his buffalos tied near the hospital. No sooner had I reached the hospital that an explosion-like sound reverberated in the valley. I saw massive amounts of water and stone flowing down the mountains. The river split into dozens of streams. I saw people being swept away, Lakpat said. When he managed to reach higher ground,he could see Bir and Bipin getting caught in flash flood as the waters engulfed the building they had climbed on. It was like what they show on TV I think it is called tsunami. I wish that I was dead than witness such a terrible scene. It was a sight I could never imagine would happen in Kedarnath, he said.

The fate of several cattle and sheep herding families that survived is precarious. They have refused air evacuations as their livelihood depends on animals stuck on the slopes of the valley. Abandoning the livestock would mean starting from the scratch. In a few days the Army will leave the area. The only way to survive may be to walk down,leaving the animals behind, he said.

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Till the time he decides what course of action to take,Lakpat follows his last duty to his friend. He reaches out to the fodder sack and takes out a bit. Bir has left behind two buffalos,and it is his duty to do all he can to save them. They are the last trace of Bir, he said.