First Newsletter from CHAI-Sanghi Relief Camp, Nandurga Village, Latur District written by Dr. Mani Kalliath the Co-ordinator dated 16/10/1993

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Title: First Newsletter from CHAI-Sanghi Relief Camp, Nandurga Village, Latur District written by Dr. Mani Kalliath the Co-ordinator dated 16/10/1993
extracted text: ^F|VH|’3/LAT-|6|suDHn

; 16
Q THE CATHOLIC HOSPITAL ASSOCIATION OF INDIA
PB2126 GUNROCK ENCLAVE SECUNDERABAD AP 500 003
C-F TEL 848293 848457 841610 CBL CEEHAI SECUNDERABAD TLX 0425 6674 CHAI IN FAX 0091-842-811982
1943-1993
ref no

1610.93

CHAl/Sanghi Relief Camp
Nandurga Village
Latur District.
I

Dear Friends,

TOWa.^o

LIFE

IN

ITS

FULLNESS

I am writing this letter sitting in the hospital tent
of our base camp at Nandurga village in Latur district.
It is a beautiful large triangular Belgian tent, with
strong plastic sheet for the floor and built in windows.
One feels relaxed, forgetting the anxieties of the
earlier days, when we had to struggle with water leak
ing from above and floor getting water logged.

I was part of the first team that pitched camp here,
under the banner of the Catholic Hospital Association
of India and Sanghi group of industries on October 10th.
Though we had been readying to come here, there were
restrictions. It made one wonder whether one needed
influence even to volunteer for relief work! By the
time we reached, the army had been withdrawn and police
contingents were everywhere. The original village of
Nandurga was completely flattened except for 2 concrete
structures. The village had lost about 300 lives.
Opposite the village, crowds of people were queueing
up infront of various relief distribution points.

It takes some time to get to know the people and their
sense of loss. First contact was at the clinic, which
as soon as it opened had a hundred people lining up.
They came to get relief from pains and aches; others
small number
came with infected vzounds, some deep. A small
had bone injuries, by now infected, malunited or non
united. In the first few days we were relieved not
to see signs of serJous epidemic.
. .2. .

FIFTY YEARS OF DEDICATED SERVICE TO THE NATION

REGISTERED UNDER THE SOCIETIES REGISTRATION ACT XXI OF 1860S1755OF 1960-61 REGD. OFFICE: CBCI CENTRE GOLDAKKHANA NEW DELHI 110 001 TEL 310694 344470

PLEASE ADDRESS ALL CORRESPONDENCE TO THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AND NOT TO ANY PARTICULAR PERSON

Visiting them in their houses reveal more of their
tragedy - a daughter and son-in-law had come home to
parents' house that day for confinement, when nature
snatched them away; a son had rushed back from Bombay
only to see half his family wiped out; there is one
young man, who has suddenly found himself alone, his
entire family has passed away. We found an old woman
with an untreated fracture of the upper limb who was
unwilling to move out for treatment, because she had
to care for her widowed daughter who had gone into
depression. Another lady spontaneously hugged one
of our sisters, who had put a plastic cover on the
remains of her precious but tattered family card.

Some have not received relief because they are so
deeply in their sorrowr that they do not come out and
stand in the queues, For some of the richer folk,
this quake has beeni a leveller in more ways than one.
- ~ who
'
A lady
wasj well off earlier found it so humiliating
stand in line for the first time in her life!
The rows and rows temporary tin shelters are not the
best of housing. It is black cotton soil land and
in low lying areas; this is also the season of
torrential rain. When the downpour is heavy the
family spends the night sitting up on cots or planks.
Without garbage pits and latrines, it is a wonder
that there has been no outbreak of water-borne
epidemics yet.
..3..

Children are happy to come around usz especially
so if photographs are being taken. They collect
around if some one starts singing; perhaps they need
to forget the trauma quickly and get into a joyous
mode.
What we are offering is small compared to their need.
Our service is appreciated and they have faith in it
as they are getting better. We need to help them get
referral services and to make the government hospitals
more responsive.
We have to take the lead for immunization. We need to
search out quickly those villages more inaccessible
by road and hence underserved. We need to distribute
relief - blankets, doting, food/ even if there has
been an abundance of relief already, as all the
deserving may hot have got. Winter is just round the
corner. Most relief agencies will be packing up and
leaving by the end of the month. Can we also do some
thing about the drainage/ in collaborating with the
government’s work so that the temporary houses are more
livable? This requires greater resources both personnel
and material and it is required immediately.

Yours sincerely/

i —**br. Mani Kalliath
Sanghi/CHAI camp - Nandurga village

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