By Nirmala Carvalho
Mumbai: Caritas India will send immediate aid to people in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand who have been hit by floods caused by a great avalanche.
Cardinal Oswald Gracias, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, said this while talking to AsiaNews on February 8, a day after a part of the glacier collapsed into the Dhauli Ganga River in the Chamoli district of the northern Indian state.
The impact generated a wave of water that overwhelmed two dams under construction: a river of water and mud then devastated an entire valley.
Caritas India is the social action wing of the Catholic Church in the country.
“My heart weeps for the victims and their families. Many workers are still missing; I pray that they will be found soon and receive medical assistance,” the cardinal said in a press release.
At least 26 bodies have been recovered and as many as 171 people were missing as on February 9.
Military and paramilitary personnel are in the rescue area. So far 25 people have been rescued. For the most part, the victims and the missing were workers engaged in the construction of the Tapovan lock.
Bishop Vincent Nellaiparambil of Bijnor said it was not yet possible to make an exact assessment of the damage to the villages in the affected area: “Father Ajo Thelappilly leads our mission 25 km from the site of the tragedy. He has not yet managed to reach the disaster area. After having made an assessment of the situation we will be able to send the necessary help,” said the bishop whose diocese covers the calamity struck area.
The diocese of Bijnor covers part of the district of Bijnor in Uttar Pradesh and districts of Pauri, Rudraprayag, Chamoli, Tehri, Uttarkashi and a part of Haridwar in Uttarakhand.
The glacier burst appeared to have triggered an avalanche and a deluge that ripped through the Alaknanda river system in the upper reaches of the ecologically fragile Himalayas. However, experts are still trying to determine the exact cause of the disaster in Joshimath.
Source: asianews.it