Nakhkhu flood survivors see pain and pain everywhere under open sky

By Madhu Shahi, Kathmandu, Oct 2: Though Martin Luther King, Jr is credited with the well-known line 'We must build dikes of courage to hold back the flood of fear, a real flood survivors fail to easily believe it and translate it into reality.' There are plenty of psychological and physical traumas of flood survivors who were forced to turn into homelessness on the eve of festivals. The recent floods in the country have stolen the golden dreams of family union and relaxation of the whole year's shortcoming, struggle, scarcity, and mountain of optimism to be shared among the family members. There are hundreds of such real survivors whose panic stories are waiting to be narrated. Amongst hundreds of them, some are still lamenting the pain of losing their all happiness and joys in the floods of the Nakhkhu River. Now they have only pain and pain.     

Evert night, Nita Sijali lays out jute sack on the muddy and dusty floor of her relative's hut, hoping that her family could sleep comfortably.     

Much to the dismay of Sijali's family of four, displaced by last Friday's flood (September 27) at Nakkhu River in Lalitpur, they struggle for restful sleep amidst the relentless barking of dogs and buzzing of mosquitoes.     

The most pressing concern for Sijali is the health and safety of her two children.     

Nowhere to go after their hut was washed away by the raging Nakkhu River, Sijali's family has taken a refuge in their relative's hut. Nights here are spent amid discomfort and danger of stray dogs since the door in the hut does not have a proper lock, lamented Sijali.     

"There is no difference between us and the dogs," she said, adding that after the flood swept away everything, they sleep along with the stray dogs in the hut. "While the dogs could be shooed away, I worry about safety and health of my kids."     

Hailing from Sindhuli district, the Sijali's family had been living off on the bank of Nakkhu Khola as a labourer. After losing everything to the flood in Nakkhu Khola, they are neither able to return home nor find a safe shelter.     

After the flood in Nakkhu River swept away everything, they are left with only a single piece of cloth in their bodies. "Having found refuge in relative's house has been the biggest blessing since the fateful Friday's flood," she said with a heavy heart.     

Sijali narrated harrowing incident when the flood started, beginning with the courtyard soaking on the first day. Assuming that the wet courtyard would dry up in no time, they went back to sleep, only to be awakened to water gushing into their settlement.     

"We assumed that it would not rain much that night. But water gushed into our settlement taking everything with it," she recollected with a twinge of pain.     

Nar Bahadur Sijale Magar, a resident of Phulbari Marga-25 in Lalitpur, shares similar plight. His family of six has been displaced and stranded following the swollen Nakkhu River.     

'Where to live?', 'What to eat?', he asked, expressing his worries and anxiety and explaining precarious conditions in the wake of devastating disasters. "I am not afraid of light all day long but when the night falls, fear about my family's safety begins to engulf me. I cannot sleep at night fearing another flood."     

Magar's family, who had been living in the riverside of Nakkhu River, is struggling to make ends meet despite working all day long as a labourer post the flood.     

Echoing similar sentiment is Chatur Ram Majhi who is currently residing in a make-shift shelter at Nakkhu River. For him, the greatest concern is shelter than food at present. "The ward office provides food but they do not address our need for shelter," whined Majhi.     

"If it rains again, we have nowhere to go," he said worryingly. He is left with only a torn pair of trousers and a shirt and hopelessness, he confided.     

Having relied on relative for shelter, he vented his frustration over lack of immediate relief response on the part of the government and uncertainty over the shelter.     

Vehemently criticizing stakeholder agencies' 'hallow promises', he demanded earliest relief response to the flood survivors like him. He cautioned towards the possibility of health issues suffering the flood survivors like him in coming days if the government does not timely pay attention to this issue.     

Anand Das's worry differs from those other flood survivors mentioned above. The resident of Adinath Marga in Lalitpur fears the safety of his belongingness now after his mother and he was airlifted to safety after the house was flooded.     

"Even though we are safe, the belongings in the house are not safe," he fretted, expressing, "We could not close the door after the flood in house. Everything is covered by mud and silt. Even a gas cylinder has been stolen the same night."     

According to him, the flood survivors like his mother and him were still living in panic and thus he emphasized urgency for the concerned authorities for earliest rehabilitation of those displaced by flood.     

A dozer was clearing off the flood debris in Nakkhu River on Wednesday. Sarswati Basnet from Ramechhap district was digging out the ground hoping to retrieve her missing belongings in the rubbles of the flood.     

Flood destroyed her house and washed away her seven cows and their shed. She bemoaned the loss of means of her livelihood-cows. "I kept waiting and watching the whole day if the dozer could help me retrieve any of my belongings while it cleared off the debris but to no avail."     

"Out of seven cows, four were found dead," she shared.     

Sarswati's family had ventured into cattle-rearing business some two years ago obtaining Rs 1.4 million in loan. "It had been only 13 days of insuring the cows. We had ventured into cattle-rearing business for self-employment. With the cows swept away by the flood, all out dreams and investment have been washed away," she bemoaned.     

"Now there is nothing left with us. There is no option but to go abroad to repay the debt," she said with a lump in her throat.     

Nirmala Dhami, one of the flood survivors in Nakkhu River, was searching for her missing valuables items including gold ornaments through the flood debris in the riverside.     

According to her, five tola of gold jewelries were stashed in the drawer of a cupboard that was swept away by the flood. (RSS)