By Asia News
Feb 11 2021
The nuns, who run a school just 15 kilometers from the disaster area, bring supplies to affected villages, where some of their pupils live. Meanwhile, digging continues to reach 35 people trapped in a tunnel at a dam site swept away by a wall of water.
NEW DELHI – The Sisters of the Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament are at the forefront of helping residents in Chamoli, a district in the Indian state of Uttarakhand hit by last Sunday’s collapsed glacier.
Just 15 kilometres from the disaster area, the congregation runs the Jyoti Vidyalaya School.
“Right on Sunday, three of our sisters went to the affected area bringing food, biscuits, water, clothes and other items for the younger children,” said school principal Sister Soumya, speaking to AsiaNews.
“Yesterday they went to nearby villages, but some places in the valley are still isolated. Some of our students and the relatives of some of them are among the missing.
“We are trying to bring help to the residents of the villages and offer them the comfort they now need,” the Sister explained, “trying at the same time to imagine a long-term plan so that these villages can get back on their feet ”.
Meanwhile, the death toll has risen to 32 confirmed deaths with about 200 still missing.
At the Tapovan dam construction site, rescue work continues at a 2.5 km tunnel where 35 people are trapped. The area was hit by a deluge of water, and the ongoing flow of debris is making rescue operations more difficult, slowing down digging operations.
Elsewhere in the valley, about a dozen villages are still cut off following the collapse of a bridge that crossed the Dhauli Ganga River.
Rescue teams are trying to bring water, food rations and power generators to residents while waiting to set up a temporary bridge to restore links. (N.C.) – AsiaNews
