A little help goes a long way
The phrase “come hell or high water” is going to have a chilling resonance for the people of Ladakh. On August 5, after a day of incessant rain and a sudden drop in the temperature, residents of Leh experienced continuous lightning for several hours on the night of August 4. Reactions ranged from being disconcerted to being frankly
afraid, because it was not a usual occurrence. Ladakh has been correctly described as a high altitude desert and continuous rain coupled with prolonged episodes of lightning was outside the experience of the locals.
Indeed, in the almost complete absence of rain, Ladakhis build their houses to withstand the cold: for approximately half the year, temperatures are intense. Minus 30 is not considered unusual. However, there is sun for around 360 days of the year and so, every household makes use of solar cookers and water heaters. Many houses have the western walls of their houses painted black so as to trap and conserve the heat of the sun. It is not considered an indigenous custom, but was brought to Ladakh by NGO workers, most famously one by a Swedish lady.
Ladakhis have been focusing on conserving warmth in their buildings. The idea of keeping their houses dry and safe from floods never came into the picture. Houses were built of mud and brick and every roof in the land was flat. All it took was a single cloudburst to decimate whole areas of Leh. “The cloudburst resulted in floods which weakened all the buildings on flat land,” said Hafeez Reshi, a Kashmiri shopowner.
Reshi swung into action almost immediately. He left the confines of his house on the steeply sloping Fort Road, undamaged by the rain because of its location, and reached the bus-stand. There, swirling waters swept everything in its wake, including a Maruti 800, which was hurled on to the first floor of a building. “It was like seeing the fist of God”, he recounts.
For those who would like to contribute to the disaster, blankets, woolen clothes and shoes, can be sent to www.ritinjali.org, an NGO that is taking donations in cash and kind. Phone: 011-26789072, 41687510.
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