Kochi: The value of household goods lost, including basic utensils, in flood-ravaged areas in the state is yet to be properly estimated in the official accounts of the loss. The damage is incalculable say families returning home from relief camps in most of the areas.
Most homes in the worst hit areas have lost their television, refrigerator, mixer-grinder and washing machines, said people involved in relief and rescue operations. Either these goods have lost or damaged beyond repair, they added. The average loss for a lower middle class family is a minimum of '20,000 to '30,000 if take into acc-ount a television, mixer grinder and refrigerator alone, they said.
The loss of value of household goods needed to be assessed, said Dr. K.N. Harilal, member State Planning Board. The estimates currently made by the government on the loss are mainly concerned with the loss of public assets such as roads, bridges and other assets, he said. “We needed to evolve a proper methodology for calculating such loses bef-ore making any wild es-timates”, he said.
The government agencies and an informed public will have to und-ertake the task jointly, he added.
The loss of goods and property is cutting acr-oss rich and poor. A survivor of the flood at Mu-ringoor near Chalakudy said apart from the household goods the car parked in his residential premise was filled with slush and water. “The vehicle has become a junk and only has scrap value”, he said.
A person who managed to reach his home in Kadungalloor on Tues-day said he needed to buy everything fresh including the cooking pots. The water has taken everything away, he said.
The situation in many households in pl-aces such as Muvattupuzha is similar.
“We are yet to make an assessment of the losses as we are busy with cleaning the house for the past few days. The fumigation itself will take more than a week” said a resident in Muvattupzuha.
Gumboots, gloves in short supply
Even as the cleaning process is underway in flood affected areas and houses and business establishments situated there, the absence or shortage of gumboots, glo-ves and cleaning materials in interior areas is creating a serious health concern.
People including women in villages like Chowara near Aluva where floods left a trail of destruction could be seen on Tuesday using plastic kits to cover their legs while there were no gloves for them to protect their hands. Masks were available in some places but many areas were without that too. However, in Company-pady on the National Highway near Aluva, residents had new gumboots which were supplied by non-governmental organisations and the district administration in the day. From the Lenin Centre, district headquarters of the CPM, too gumboots and gloves were distributed.
Gumboots are critical in escaping from snake bites apart from dealing with slush effectively. In the aftermath of flood, both have entered into many houses.
“The absence of distribution of masks, gumboots and gloves in many rural areas in the district points to the lack of co-ordination in this regard by the district collector and district medical officer. Bacterial, viral and fungal infections are contracted by people in their absence as they will be dealing with stench, slush and stagnant water. Snake bite is another possibility. In fact Asha workers and students of medical and para-medical courses should be used for spreading the message in this regard and also distributing these aids,” said Dr N.K. Sanil Kumar, surgeon and leader of Justice VR Krishna Iyer Movement which had shot off a letter to the Chief Minister the other day urging him to take urgent preventive steps on the health front in the aftermath of the floods.
