AN INSPIRING STORY OF A WIDOW

While the old traditional two storied cottage of Ganga Devi Kami of Simphok Gumpadara under Maneybong Sopakha Gram Panchayat Unit in West Sikkim swayed for more than 30 seconds to withstand the 6.9 magnitude temblor of 18th September, 2011 she never thought that she would be alive to see the daylight again.
That evening she was inside her house and was about to retire after a hard day. The monstrous tremblor spared her but left her house severely damaged.
The severity of the earthquake was the highest in North Sikkim with respect to loss of human lives, however, this calamity jolted the whole of Sikkim. The West District also suffered damages to private and public property apart from the loss of human lives and livestock. The West District administration and the District Disaster Management Cell of West District was one of the quickest to respond to post disaster management and relief.
Similarly, the Block Administration of Dentam Block, panchayats, RDAs, local volunteers started its post earthquake management from the early morning of 19 Sept that enabled the preparation of preliminary Earthquake Assessment Report by the evening of the same day and a comprehensive list of affected households by 22 September. Some forty one victims under Dentam Block with their houses fully collapsed or left uninhabitable received ex-gratia amounts of Rs.30,000 each on 25 Sept which was handed out by the Chief Minister and thereafter on 30 Sept, one hundred and ten victims received ex-gratia amounts of Rs.30,000 each from Dentam BAC amounting to Rs 33,00,000. That was probably one of the first releases of ex-gratia from Block Development Offices.
It was then time for the Dentam BDO, Himmat Rai to carry out follow up work on earthquake relief management on the direction of District Collector, West, Shanta Pradhan. That led Mr. Rai to visit houses of the victims who were extended first hand ex-gratia and in the process met Mrs Ganga Devi Kami, fondly called Kanchi Aama by the villagers.
Kanchi Aama, a widow, whose young daughter aged 30 years died last year also received ex-gratia of Rs. 30,000 on 25 September at Gyalshing. She has already started repair work using cement for the walls instead of traditional mud and stone as she finds the walls with stone and mud too weak to support her house. She has given the repair work on contract to local masons at Rs 12,000 and wonders whether the remaining amount would be sufficient to meet the cost of materials.
She had thought of dismantling the damaged house at one point of time but the memories attached to her house made her opt for repair instead as it was constructed by her husband. Her house is about a half-an-hour uphill walk from the Dentam-Uttaray road and hence the materials will have high carriage cost. However, Kanchi Aama, who is in her early seventies, has unknowingly set an example and remains a role model for others.
The Dentam Block was one of the worst hit areas in Sikkim with some 5.75% of houses, that are fully collapsed or at the verge of collapse, under the collapsed category. Dentam Block, which has 3912 total households as per Census, 2010 with 1892 houses damaged under partial, major, severe and collapsed category, has 48% of the total households damaged. The damages are maximum in the interiors of Dentam like Bullung, Ferek, Sopakha, Bongten, Srinagi, Hee Tamabung,  therefore an extensive exercise with sustainable reconstruction plans on the part of the Government would only help them regain the growth, prosperity these villages have had attained over the years. Many of the damaged houses under the collapsed category might be taken into the Chief Minister’s Rural Housing Mission for construction of one storied pucca building as per the eligibility of the victims, however the financial implications would be very high and might again take a longer gestation period.