Cholama Tamang, who suffered from the flood, says: Now we are 7 people from Dhading, we spend the whole day in Dharali's fields, sometimes in the evening we sleep in the mess and sometimes we cook our own food and sleep in the apple hut. Now we have no work, no money to go home.
We use Google Cloud Translation Services. Google requires we provide the following disclaimer relating to use of this service:
This service may contain translations powered by Google. Google disclaims all warranties related to the translations, expressed or implied, including any warranties of accuracy, reliability, and any implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and noninfringement.
65-year-old Chholama Tamang of Dhading's Jamalukhi Rural Municipality-2 Kaphalpani was on the banks of the river when the Kheerganga river flooded after a 'cloud burst' in Dharali, Uttarakhand, Uttarkashi, India. His room was next to the river.
He was sitting outside the room after eating and ran away seeing the river rushing from above. He also called Lal Bahadur Tamang, Fela Tamang and Singh Bahadur Tamang who were staying in the room with him.
All four of his friends, including Chholama, saved their lives by climbing a hill 20/25 meters from the room. Two or three of his friends who were across the river escaped by going to an army camp some distance away.
"From cellphones to diaries written in phone numbers, not only that, but also from clothes to the money earned by wage labor," Cholama said, "Since then, everyone has been saying that it is missing, saving lives was the most important thing for us, we couldn't even think of contacting the family."
Two/three days after the Dharali market was turned into a bog by the flood, when the phone service started . Then everyone's phone calls started coming. Started calling home. Then I thought that the team of Chholama should also be contacted at home . But they don't have a mobile phone or a home phone number.
"For two/three days the phone did not work, Facebook did not work at all," Tamang said, "When the phone started working, the Internet also started working, then Lal Bahadur, who was with him, contacted the passenger and informed the house.
"The family was very worried, the chairman of the village also contacted the passenger," Tamang said, "Now we are 7 people from Dhading, we spend the whole day in the bagger of Dharali and sometimes in the evening we cook in the mess and sometimes we cook ourselves and sleep in the apple hut."
They reached Dharali for wage labor on 10th of Chait . They have been doing different kinds of construction work like apple picking, carrying, Godmailing etc. But now that the apple orchards have been destroyed, that work has been completed . Here due to road blocking, other works are closed .
"The problem now is to have food, there is no address for work," Cholama said, "We go to the same place where we are searching all day, and after evening we look for shelter in a camp." Since there is no possibility of getting a job immediately, he plans to return home. But he says that there is a problem because they don't have even a single rupee to go back home.
