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Allow global aid agencies

Kashmir Times. Dated: 9/13/2014 12:53:41 PM

The enormity of the floods, landslides calls for efforts from beyond the borders

Lakhs of people still trapped in Kashmir floods and many more deprived of basic relief even as truck loads have been ferried across to Srinagar’s technical area are tell tale signs of acute mismanagement, lack of co-ordination and paucity of either resources or expertise to rescue the trapped people. On the other side of the Jawahar tunnel, the official assessment of losses due to floods are no less alarming. Perhaps in terms of lives involved and damage to infrastructure, these may be a pittance as compared to the Kashmir Valley but in view of the remoteness of the areas caught in the grip of floods and landslides and consequently the difficulty of effective relief and rehabilitation work, it indeed should be a major cause for concern. This raises pertinent questions of whether the state and the central governments are ill-equipped to deal with the magnitude of the natural disaster that has struck Jammu and Kashmir. Blame game does not help either the state or the central government to evade responsibility, especially after the heads of both met last week and talked of greater co-operation. The inaction of the state government can be understandable for the first one or two days when floods hit Srinagar, the sitting capital of the state, throwing government machinery and men into disarray but not thereafter. The chief minister cannot be excused for his prolonged suspended animation as some of his bureaucrats and officials, who were not badly hit by the floods, sat cocooned in their safe holes or managed to fly out through Air Force choppers. The centre cannot evade the blame of offering more support through additional manpower and resources other than relief material to hasten the rescue operations and ensure effective and quick delivery of relief material. Clearly, the action has not been of the level that the enormity of the situation demands. Both appear incapacitated to deal with a situation that is abnormal and unprecedented, not only in view of the scale of the disaster but also in view of the fact that it is capital city of one of the most troubled states of the country that is the worst affected.
A befitting response would require doubling up manpower, improving co-ordination between Centre, state government and Army and also reaching out to international aid agencies like , not stalling moves to bring them in. This is important not only to bring in monetary support but also the expertise so crucial to combat the situation that has arisen due to the floods. The situation demands facilitating the entry of reputed international relief agencies whose expertise and resources cannot be matched by either the government or the national agencies working in this field. It would be prudent for the Centre to allow international relief organisations like International Red Cross (IRC), Doctors Without Borders (MSF), Oxfam, and other disaster management organisations to begin their operations on a war footing both in Kashmir Valley and Jammu region, especially in the rather remote hilly areas. A recent parallel to the present tragedy is the Muzaffarabad earthquake in 2005 that completely destroyed the capital city of Pakistan Administered Kashmir. It took half a decade to re-build the city only with efficient expertise, guidance and aid of foreign agencies working on disaster relief and rehabilitation. It was massive support of Japanese agencies known for their expertise in rescue work that preceded the relief and rehabilitation work. Kashmir’s present tragedy is far worse. Whatever support can be garnered globally may still fall short. The present central government has encouraged greater foreign investment in every sector including in defence. There is no logic in holding back foreign aid in whatever form it comes for a cause that is humanitarian and so essential for saving lakhs of lives and allowing them to pick up the threads of their lives from scratch. In a globalised world, it would be ridiculous to shun the support coming from outside. Rather there should be earnest efforts to bring them in.