AsiaNet-Pakistan Premier Editorial Content and Press Release Distribution Service
Srinagar, September 08, 2014 (PPI-OT): In occupied Kashmir, heavy rains and flash floods during the past six days have rendered over 175 kashmir floods people dead and thousands others homeless in the territory. The natural calamity, the worst in the last over fifty years, has wreaked unprecedented havoc inflicting huge damage to infrastructure across the occupied territory and causing loss of billions of rupees.
With all phone lines down and roads cut off, the exact scale of the disaster is still unclear. Help us and save us are the only voices one can hear all around the Kashmir Valley. Residents could be seen waving from rooftops since vehicles and livestock has been washed away.
The rain swollen Jhelum River has flooded the capital city, Srinagar, snapping the communication lines and internet services. Areas such as Raj Bagh, Jawahar Nagar, Indira Nagar, Bemina, Bal Garden, Qamarwari, Habbakadal, Lal Chowk and Gogji Bagh are deep in water and in most houses people have taken refuge under attic.
People are flashing SOS for help. However, since last evening they are not in a position even to communicate as the mobile and internet services are finished. Whereabouts of thousands of people are not known. This has led to more chaos and distress.
Over 2,000 villages have been affected by the flood waters some of them completely submerged in the water, leaving hundreds of thousands of people homeless. The water level has risen as high as eighteen feet due to breach in the Jhelum river.
Although the puppet administration has been claiming that boats have been arranged and rescue operations have begun, but nothing is seen on the ground. People told media men that the apathy of the puppet administration has added to their woes. They pointed out that the government is not seen anywhere. The general public particularly women and children are perishing due to non-availability of water and food.
Srinagar-Jammu Highway, the only surface link of the Kashmir Valley to the outside world, remains closed for vehicular traffic on the fourth consecutive day, today, due to the extensive damage caused to the roads by rains to landslides at various places.
For more information, contact:
Kashmir Media Service
Email: info@kmsnews.org
Phone: 92-51-4435548, 4435549
Fax: 92-51-4861736