lawyerlee
07-28-2005, 08:52 AM
This kind of tragedy is just unimaginable to me. :(
Record Rains Kill More Than 500 in India (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/28/AR2005072800274_pf.html)
Washington Post
By RAMOLA TALWAR BADAM
The Associated Press
Thursday, July 28, 2005; 10:11 AM
BOMBAY, India -- Rescuers searched for survivors buried under debris Thursday and rushed aid to villages cut off by record-breaking rains that have paralyzed Bombay and its surrounding state and killed more than 500 people this week.
Officials said 273 people have died in Bombay since Tuesday when the hectic, cosmopolitan city that is home to India's financial and movie industries was hit by an unprecedented deluge of up to 37.1 inches of rain, the highest one-day total recorded in India's history. Much of it came over a few evening hours.
Victims of the torrential rains were crushed by falling walls and landslides, trapped in cars or electrocuted. Phone networks collapsed, highways were blocked and Bombay's airports, among the nation's busiest, were closed.
On Thursday, as the rains persisted, the Bombay Stock Exchange did not open and many banks and financial institutions remained shut.
At least 513 people have been reported dead since Monday in different parts of western Maharashtra state, where Bombay is located, said D.M. Kulkarni, the deputy secretary in charge of the state's emergency control room in Bombay.
Pope Benedict XVI sent a telegram of condolences to Indian officials, saying he was "deeply saddened" to learn about the deaths in Bombay _ home to some of India's oldest Catholic churches _ and other parts of Maharashtra, said Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Vatican's secretary of state.
In the northern Bombay suburb of Saki Naka, relief workers and survivors searched an area where a small hill crumbled onto a group of huts, leaving more than 45 people missing and presumed dead.
"I was scared the hill would fall. I kept telling my cousin, `Lets leave,'" sobbed Aslam Khan. "But he wouldn't listen. Now it's too late."
Bodies were piled onto trucks. Private cars were flagged down to carry the injured to hospitals.
"People ran as soon as the hill started crumbling. But the old people had no chance," said Shabana Shaikh, who lost her parents in the landslide. She said authorities had asked shanty dwellers each year to vacate their decrepit homes.
Bombay's residents responded by opening up their homes and distributing food to motorists stuck in traffic and people wading through water.
"They were just angels. Women and children were giving food, biscuits to people on the road and even assuring us that it was home-cooked," said G. Sawant, a manager at a private infrastructure company.
Residents tied ropes across flooded roads to help people wade through waist-deep water as workers repaired communication networks and towed away abandoned cars and buses to clear the city's gridlocked highways. Train service resumed and flights were to begin later in the day.
Hundreds of Bombay residents began returning to their homes early Thursday in the worst-affected parts of the city's suburbs after spending two nights stranded in offices, buses, cars or trains.
State police officials said rescue teams had begun distributing food packets and water to people marooned in villages cut off by flood waters. They were also recovering bodies floating in murky swirling water.
Every year, Bombay comes to a halt for a day or two due to heavy monsoon rains, which pound the country between June and September and often kill hundreds across India. But this week's downpours paralyzed the city.
Record Rains Kill More Than 500 in India (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/28/AR2005072800274_pf.html)
Washington Post
By RAMOLA TALWAR BADAM
The Associated Press
Thursday, July 28, 2005; 10:11 AM
BOMBAY, India -- Rescuers searched for survivors buried under debris Thursday and rushed aid to villages cut off by record-breaking rains that have paralyzed Bombay and its surrounding state and killed more than 500 people this week.
Officials said 273 people have died in Bombay since Tuesday when the hectic, cosmopolitan city that is home to India's financial and movie industries was hit by an unprecedented deluge of up to 37.1 inches of rain, the highest one-day total recorded in India's history. Much of it came over a few evening hours.
Victims of the torrential rains were crushed by falling walls and landslides, trapped in cars or electrocuted. Phone networks collapsed, highways were blocked and Bombay's airports, among the nation's busiest, were closed.
On Thursday, as the rains persisted, the Bombay Stock Exchange did not open and many banks and financial institutions remained shut.
At least 513 people have been reported dead since Monday in different parts of western Maharashtra state, where Bombay is located, said D.M. Kulkarni, the deputy secretary in charge of the state's emergency control room in Bombay.
Pope Benedict XVI sent a telegram of condolences to Indian officials, saying he was "deeply saddened" to learn about the deaths in Bombay _ home to some of India's oldest Catholic churches _ and other parts of Maharashtra, said Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Vatican's secretary of state.
In the northern Bombay suburb of Saki Naka, relief workers and survivors searched an area where a small hill crumbled onto a group of huts, leaving more than 45 people missing and presumed dead.
"I was scared the hill would fall. I kept telling my cousin, `Lets leave,'" sobbed Aslam Khan. "But he wouldn't listen. Now it's too late."
Bodies were piled onto trucks. Private cars were flagged down to carry the injured to hospitals.
"People ran as soon as the hill started crumbling. But the old people had no chance," said Shabana Shaikh, who lost her parents in the landslide. She said authorities had asked shanty dwellers each year to vacate their decrepit homes.
Bombay's residents responded by opening up their homes and distributing food to motorists stuck in traffic and people wading through water.
"They were just angels. Women and children were giving food, biscuits to people on the road and even assuring us that it was home-cooked," said G. Sawant, a manager at a private infrastructure company.
Residents tied ropes across flooded roads to help people wade through waist-deep water as workers repaired communication networks and towed away abandoned cars and buses to clear the city's gridlocked highways. Train service resumed and flights were to begin later in the day.
Hundreds of Bombay residents began returning to their homes early Thursday in the worst-affected parts of the city's suburbs after spending two nights stranded in offices, buses, cars or trains.
State police officials said rescue teams had begun distributing food packets and water to people marooned in villages cut off by flood waters. They were also recovering bodies floating in murky swirling water.
Every year, Bombay comes to a halt for a day or two due to heavy monsoon rains, which pound the country between June and September and often kill hundreds across India. But this week's downpours paralyzed the city.