MAKING HASTE WHILE THE SUN SHINES.

6^th August, 2011, Phyang, Ladakh.

50-yr old speech-impaired Stanzin Dolma wakes up every day, makes her tea and sits around with the rest of the family. She doesn’t go to work. Instead, she helps with meals and other chores at home.

This home and family is her very own neighbour’s, who took her in when she lost everything she had in the flash floods last year. Till her house gets built again, they are her very own security blanket.

It’s the same case everywhere else. Those who lost their family and homes last year were all taken in with arms wide open by those in a better situation. Many are still living with their neighbours and relatives like Stanzin Dolma, while the struggle to get their lives back to normal is still on.

It’s been one year since flash floods struck the town of Ladakh with all their fury, taking lives and livelihood with it. Relief poured in from ever part of the country immediately in the form of tents, blankets, food, water, gas stoves, solar heaters etc.

Soon after, compensation and rehabilitation programmes were kick-started by the government and NGOs alike. For the winter months were fast approaching and the fear was those who had lost their homes would have nowhere to go during the cold months.

So saying, all flood-prone areas in the region were cordoned off. The government checked the extent of loss or damage and accordingly allotted land & compensation money to the people.

While one got Rupees two lakhs, sufficient land and a prefab hut courtesy Hindustan Prefab Limited, another got just Rs. 12,000/-, land and hut excluded. A third got none of the above.

And so houses started coming up even before the funds could be released by the government. The prefab tents were decorated with traditional Ladakhi beds and tables. Everyone was keen on getting their lives back on track.

Then it all came to a rude halt. Followed by a strong jolt. The prefab huts were proving to be impossible to live in. While the day made them too hot, the nights made the windows freeze up like popsicles while everything else got damp with the high condensation levels.

This was just the beginning of the problems. If prefab huts were causing a problem on side, the other side had no money. And the houses needed money to go forward. And money wasn’t being released as fast. Of the 125-crore relief budget, only Rupees 62 crores had been released. Some on the other hand had been promised but hadn’t gotten any compensation money at all.

So not only were the people who were forgotten or deemed unfit for compensation suffering because their losses weren’t high enough, but those who got land and money as compensation were suffering just as much. All because of one reason.

The whole nation including the government, NGOs and other organisations stepped on the relief and compensation gas pedal blindly. No research of the political structure, economic situation and fragility of the eco system was made before barging into the place.

Though everything was done in all goodwill, the result was a hasty, temporary solution that benefited neither the people nor put the government in good light.

After much observation, everybody involved in relief and rehabilitation of the flood affected victims will agree on one thing. The people didn’t really need our tents, prefab huts or mud houses that were built and put up wherever possible. All the people needed were time and money. The near and dear ones took care of the rest.

Ladakh is a place with a very strong social structure, one that can be seen to rise above every relief and rescue operation. Whatever their condition, the people did not abandon their own. Everyone stuck together, helping those in need. Even to this day, one year later.

Shelter was provided ungrudgingly. No rent was taken. Food was divided evenly. Land was restored by all. Crops were planted for a mourning neighbour after restoring the eroded top soil. Whatever their suffering, everyone shared it equally. Like one big family.

While the people still wait hopefully that this year will finally get them back on their feet, the mistakes made in this case cannot go unnoticed.

Taking this as a learning, we need to ensure these mistakes are not repeated in case of another disaster. We as individuals and as a nation need to be more aware of the ecology and better understand the economy of a particular place before blindly helping in the way we think is right.