The great floods of Chennai and after

The great floods of Chennai  and after 

There was something about these rains that was different. The way it poured for hours on end without any let up and the manner in which the rains came down in sheets and torrents as if the skies had torn open and clouds were bursting, seemed so eerie. Right then and there people were gripped by fear .For after all here in our city, a mere drizzle was enough to create   chaos and throw life completely out of gear.  This continuous downpour was something it could not handle for a variety of reasons. And then not long after  life came to a standstill .The city was brought down to its knees and as the news of  water logging and flooding and stranded citizens  broke out, the  magnitude of the calamity  hit home hard. Families were marooned, phones went on the blink, power supply was cut and large pockets were out of reach by any means.

                                                    

 There were health and other emergencies of all kinds -A pregnant mother at Mudichur  was in labour and crying for help .A 3 year old child in need of  urgent medical attention, a father with a 9 month old baby tweeting that he was drowning ,a friend who couldn’t reach her mother- in- law who was virtually trapped in Pallikaranai Marsh area and another Face book post about a 85 year old grandfather who boarded an auto to Nanganallur and went missing are a few of  the many SOS’ that were sent  . While many lives were saved   there were those that were lost very tragically .Like the Lt Col and his wife who drowned in their home. Orphanages, homes for mentally ill, schools for the hearing impaired and Govt and private hospitals were flooded and were asking for help to evacuate inmates and patients. Life saving equipment failed in one institution and there were close calls elsewhere .This crisis was a great leveller .It wasn’t just the poor or underprivileged or encroachers who were affected .It was people across all sections -the middle class who had invested all their life’s savings for a roof over their head unwittingly in an area which was once a water body and the rich and famous who lived in vulnerable areas. I felt deeply sad for people like my maid’s mother who watched in utter helplessness as her house got submerged and a cupboard full of brass and steel vessels    bought as trousseau for her daughter floated away before her very eyes.

The deluge forced one to think about life itself and its transient nature .If suddenly in the stealth of the night your house were to flood what would you grab? Your clothes or jewellery or  books or pieces of art   or footwear or the things in  your prayer altar or computer  or certificates  and documents like your  ration ,Aadhar , Pan cards , passport or your car  and in what order ?.(Guess we should all travel light through life)  And if you had to up and leave home where you would go? Would you feel comfortable   foisting yourself on somebody when you had your own home?

But swept by a wave of compassion and haunted by the images that they saw on their television screens and systems  people generously   opened their homes and hearts to even total strangers  The Army, Navy , Coast Guard , NDRF,  fishermen  ,  went beyond the call of duty  and did outstanding work .Scores of volunteers and  good Samaritans  did not wait to be asked but pitched in to do  whatever they could from wherever they were   -  from wading through the waters to deliver food and other essentials  to helping pack materials  and  looking up  family and friends of friends  in their vicinity  to  helping to charge mobile phones  to mobilising support  and tweeting and posting on social media - every little act of kindness of love    counted and made a difference . In fact it was all so overwhelming that those who didn’t do anything began to feel guilty.

Some ugliness surfaced as well .While all the TASMAC shops were open – perhaps they were needed for people to drown their sorrows (but as one Tweeter asked what if these people nursed a drink in their homes- guess there are two sides to appropriateness even in a tragic situation) there were reports of break- ins in some of the flooded homes. Messages were also received asking us to guard against suspicious looking people asking for shelter following confirmed reports that talked about a group that had looted the house of people who had offered them shelter in Kilpauk.

By day three   nerves were all frayed.  At the slight hint of rain people went into panic mode. With reports of a possible rough weekend citizens were preparing for the worst. Relief work was interrupted by wet weather and lack of light.

And  in utter desperation there were  calls for prayer , healing , chants and   positive energy .In a city where we are constantly praying for rain for once we had to do the reverse and beg and plead with the Rain gods to  stop .Maybe a crisis like this is sent by the Universe to make us open our eyes, our hearts, introspect  , course correct , to save what little is left of our water bodies , marshlands , our rivers and canals ( else there will be a heavy price to pay)   to clean up all the muck  and make a fresh start .

This time around how prepared were we? Did we heed the warnings three months ago that   this monsoon was going to be heavy. What lessons in Disaster Management did we learn from the Tsunami?  Mapping the state and city, generating a list of affected people should have all been child’s play in this IT savvy city .But was it? However  citizens  took the initiative to map unmotorable roads and used social media Twitter ,Face book and  What’s App  to its fullest capacity .Be that as it may this is how life is going to be .Unpredictable monsoons, floods and natural calamities will all be common place. This is the price we pay for going against Nature, for sacrificing our water bodies, our wetlands and allowing indiscriminate construction and dumping and clogging of our water ways.

The task ahead of the city is huge to put it mildly.   There is still a lot of water logging ( and cases of electrocution).Mounds of garbage are piling up .Diseases are breaking out in  relief centres .Reports say eight children have contracted chicken pox in a relief camp in Chemmencherry and other water borne and viral borne diseases are likely to spread .    Women in relief centres were hard hit.-pregnant women, menstruating women who were in need of sanitary napkins and suffering the ignominy of two toilets for five hundred people! The roads are all battered and there have been losses – property, livelihoods, school books, motor vehicles, electronic and white goods too humungous                to quantify.  Our dear city of Chennai needs to get back on track as fast as it can as do the people and it better be done before another calamity takes us by surprise.

Sudha Umashanker