Kand2

Jussub Jaku Kuriea's chore begins by searching his ten year old nephew's Amhmed Jaku Kuriea in his trawler and ends with a disappointment at the dusk.

A fisherman by profession, he is not suppose to do what he is doing. But can't help it. It seems-It is written in his fate to do that. 

He does not even know whether his nephew is dead or alive. But, he hopes and believes in Allah that his nephew will be alive somewhere near the coast of Gujarat after the infamous cyclone hit the Kandla port on June 9.

Ahmed's father Dawood Jaku Kuriea and Jussub in the past 20 days have traveled in their small trawler to almost every coast of Gujarat. But have returned with a disappointment.

Says he, "I have traveled to Jamnagar, Porbandar and Navlakhi. I have seen many dead bodies in the past 20 days lying in the sea. But, I did not find my nephew. I only pray to Allah that he should be alive."

Jussub is not unique in this city. He is one among the relatives of 1,805 people whose bodies are still missing.

"For the last 20 days, I have not eaten a proper meal nor slept. Our jhopadi (hut) has been completely destroyed by the cyclone. I don't know how long it will take me to lead a normal life again," he says.

Sonn Lal's story is no different. He is searching for his five year old daughter Sangeeta for the past 20 days in the debris of the houses destroyed by the storm.

Hailing from Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh, he came to Kandla ten years ago to work in the ports as a casual worker.

"My only daughter Saqngeeta (5) is nowhere to be seen. I was holding her tightly when the cyclone came. But the wind blew at a great speed and separated both of us," he weeps.

According to weather experts (SAI, THESE ARE THE KPT OFFICIALS WHO TOLD ME NOT TO QUOE THEM AS KPT OFFICIALS. SO I AM MENTIONING THEM AS WEATHER EXPERTS) when the cyclone hit the Kandla coast, the wind blew at a ravaging speed of 195 kms per hour with the rise in tidal wave at the Kandla port and therefore there was a heavy loss of life.

Incidentally, the loss of life was more in Zopadpatti than in the building complexes and bungalows. The reason was that these slums were near the coast. And when the wind blew at a great speed, entire houses were demolished and people got trapped under the debris. And the lucky ones those who managed to escape got caught up in strong wind and were carried away in the deep sea.

The most affected area was seven bastis Sirva labour camp, Railway slum, Banna, Mitha port, Jira port, Chemical & Resin Private Limited slum, (CRPL) and Old Kandla slum.

The people staying here were the casual workers who were getting paid nearly between Rs 100-150. Though the official statistics say that 882 dad bodes found and 1,805 still missing. People at Kandla say that more than 15,000 people have died or disappeared.

Argues Chandra Prakash, a labourer from Rajasthan whose sister too died in the storm, "I am sure that more than 15,000 people have died at Kandla. In my Sirva labour camp alone there were nearly 5,000 people staying. And that too many of them had come from the other states to work as casual labourers. And after the storm. Not more than 100 familiar faces, I have seen in our area. So, I believe either they have died or are missing."

One of the reason Kandla attracted the labourers from the other states was that it was a cash-rich port. Besides that the labour were paid more daily wages here compared to the other states. The prominent states from where the people came are: Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Rjasthan.

Says A N M Kishore, Chairperson, Kandla Port Trust, "It is difficult to find out exactly how many people have died in the storm. Because nobody knows where these labourers came from. Infact, I have received inquiries from Kerala stating that their people are too missing."

Meanwhile, the construction works is going on in full swing. But people feel that it will take atleast six months for things to come back to normalcy. 

The velocity of the wind was at a great speed and that has resulted in the shifting of the huge steel tanks and cargos to nearly two kilometres from their original places. The trees have been uprooted completely. The electric poles too have been completely routed out from the ground. However to the credit of Gujarat Electricity Board nearly 70 percent of the electircity has been restored.

Says Mukesh Puri, the Collector Bhuj District, "Nearly 20 lakh trees which includes all kind of species and crops have been destroyed completely after the storm. 50,000 electric poles have fallen. Out of which 18,000 have been broken. However, we have been able to restore 70 per cent of the electricity in 20 days."

Meanwhile, the government is taking utmost care of preventing epidemic. All the government agencies, Indian Navy, Coast guard and Border Security Force have been alerted and doing their best to prevent the diseases.

"We are distributing chlorine tablets freely to every one and large scale of cholrination is going on after one case of Cholera was reported on June 16," adds Puri.

Meanwhile, the government has announced lot of relief measures which includes a temporary restoration of houses and giving Rs 5,000 cheques for the people whose houses have been destroyed. 

However, the people at Kandla are complaining that outsiders are coming to their city and giving their fake names and are getting the money. 

Says Mohammad Issac another casual labourer at KPT, "People are flocking from all over the states and getting money whereas the actual sufferers are still busy in reconstruction  of their houses or searching dead bodies."

The government is distributing cheques to those people who have two witnesses to state that these people really belong to Kandla.

Says Puri, "Though there has been not much damage in Gandhidham which is 15 kms from Kandla. The people of Gandhidham are too queuing up for the money."

"We are facing difficulties because nobody has got any documents to prove that they belong to Kandla," said a government official who was distributing cheques of State Bank of India.

Interestingly, the storm has not only affected the Indians but also the foreigners who were on the port and never expected to be caught in a storm unawares.

Says Brind Lee, a Sri Lankan second officer in the Greek shipping company Athanais Maritime. "In my eighteen years of sailing. I never had such a bad experience. We were totally unaware when the storm came over. The KPT officials did not even bother to inform us about the storm."

However, Lee is not alone who is complaining about the KPT for not informing the vessels about the storm, there are others too.

Says Naeem Shah, a Pakistani citizen an electrical engineer hailing from Karachi and working with Lee, "The KPT should have ordered all the ships to leave the port and go into the deep sea when they knew that cyclone was going to hit the coast. Had they done this, the ships would have not been damaged much.

The common factor and anger among the people is that nobody even bothered to inform them that a storm was expected in Kandla which they had never expected in their life time. 

Says Lee, "In 1981, when I was in Hanoi, Vietnam. There was same storm. But the Vietnamese government informed us much before the time. We took over ship in deep sea and thus were saved."

The cyclone has destroyed storage rooms, huge cranes and cargos. One of the busiest port of the 11 major ports. Today, after 20 days of the storm. Not a single person is visible at the port at dusk.

Says a KPT official, "People used to stand in queues to get an entry into our port. And after 20 days of the storm people are still recovering from the shock. I think it will take long time for this port to gain its past glory."