Chungthang, a week later: A sub-divisional town crawling back to normalcy

A barber shop stays open for business at Chungthang, a sign of life limping back to normalcy in this substantially devastated North Sikkim town

The State Bank of Sikkim branch at Chungthang has relocated out of its damaged building into a new corner. The office was reopened on Friday.

GANGTOK, 25 Sept: Despite the vast and massive devastation and damage to life and property left in the trail of landslides triggered by the intense earth shake of 18 September, the North district town of Chungthang, in many senses the Ground Zero for the scale of destruction suffered by it, is limping towards normalcy, a week since the incident. Even as there is death and destruction all round, the Sub-Divisional Office here in Chungthang is still functioning, vastly aided by the 12 sets of WLL phones and 1 satellite phone provided by BSNL which has made communication finally possible.
In the immediate aftermath of the earthquake, the SDM office was occupied with rescue and evacuation operations.

Informs the BDO, Samdup Bhutia, “Our priority was to evacuate the injured and then the tourists followed by women and children and then the elderly”.  The Chunthang SDM was not in station today, having trekked 22 kms over a litter of some 40 landslides to Lachung yesterday.
A week since the earthquake, the Sub-Divisional Office is more concerned with coordinating the relief efforts and managing the relief camps with the help of locals and assessing the damages.
A total of 7 relief camps have been set up here by the administration which are managed with the help of locals. A task force has also been set-up comprising the local panchayat members, district officials, officials from private companies operating here, locals, the army as well as other agencies aiding the relief and rehabilitation efforts.
The task force holds its meeting daily at 3 pm to take stock and coordinate the relief operations with other stakeholders.
There is also a team of 10 doctors from New Delhi who had arrived here from New Delhi, three of whom have stayed back. The Primary Health Centre, it is informed, has not suffered much damage and was being manned by two local doctors.
“We have a good supply  of medicines at the PHC and additional medicines were airdropped. The veterinary hospital is however damaged,” informed the BDO.
A relief and rescue camp for animals has also been set up to cater to stranded pets and livestock and also to prevent any untoward confrontations between man and animal in crowded Chungthang, it was informed.
A control room has been set up at the SDM office where 2 of phones provided by the BSNL are kept for use, while the other 10 have been dispatched to strategic locations around town.
The control room numbers for Chungthang are 03592 210738/ 210739.