A YEAR AFTER Leh struggles to get back on its feet

Dipti Jain TNN

Leh: Rigzin Angmo, a middle-aged nurse at a government hospital, is all smiles as she shows you her new house that was built this June. She got a compensation of Rs 2.3 lakh from the government after her house was washed away in the floods, exactly a year ago, and she chipped in with another Rs 2 lakh to rebuild her house. “We had no place to go to as the houses provided by the NGOs were too cold. We used to sleep here on wet mud. Now it is much better,” she says.
Rigzin is among the few people in Choglamsar, a small village, who could afford to rebuild her house washed away by the cloudburst last year. Choglamsar was the worst-affected village in the Leh floods on August 6, 2010. The cloudburst had left 257 dead, 57 people missing, 424 disabled, 664 houses destroyed and 783 homes partially damaged. A year after the incident, the village is full of small boxlike pre-fabricated houses built by several NGOs, with a few brick houses.
With winter just a few months away residents are trying to collect funds to avoid sleeping in the cold again. “We have to build a house for ourselves before winter sets in but we have no money,” says a troubled Murup Dolma, a housewife.
Even the likes of Rigzin have had to settle for a smaller house. “I had enough space for 10 guests in my old house. Today there is space only for the three of us. But I am glad at least I have that. The government and the NGOs have helped us a lot,” she says. Several NGOs and organizations still continue to work with the government to complete the rehabilitation process and fill the loopholes. The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) helped provide shelter to the people in Saboo village. The industry chamber handed over 13 houses to the victims of the cloudburst in Leh, on Thursday. The Rural Development and You (RDY), a local NGO in Ladakh, worked in collaboration with Oxfam India to provide over a thousand shelter kits and water sanitation kits in several villages. The NGO is currently working with Society for Energy, Environment and Development (SEED) to establish three other houses in Sakti and Egoo villages.
The Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) too has been working with smaller NGOs to help remove the debris from the agricultural lands and irrigation canals. “Our main focus is on livelihood, as loss of land has caused many to live from hand to mouth,” said Sonam Jorgyes, Project Director LAHDC.

Source:- http://cdrn.org.in/show.detail.asp?id=22301