People still live in shattered houses mostly with no roofs.
KOLLAM: It will be no Vishu on Thursday for the residents of Paravur who are yet to recover from the shock of the tragedy and are mourning for their beloved ones. People still live in shattered houses mostly with no roofs and could collapse anytime. The open wells in the area are filled with the debris from the explosion and even human body parts.
The revenue department has started collecting details. However, if the proceedings are not speeded up, the residents will not get their houses repaired before the onset of monsoon. “If they proceed at the usual speed, the victims would not be able to live in their houses in near future,” Paravoor Nagara Vikasana Samithi president V.H. Satjith said.
“Around 30 houses near the temple are severely damaged with all the roof tiles gone, making it impossible to survive for long. The drinking water issue is also severe, and they solely depend on the ration supply of water by tankers.”
The health department officials who inspected the open wells in the vicinity of the temple have ordered the residents not to use the water found to be contaminated. The water samples collected from the area have been sent for chemical test and microbial infection test at public health labs in Thiruvananthapuram and Kollam.
Twenty teams consisting of three health department officials visited 6,435 houses in nine divisions under the Paravoor Municipality to assess the situation. At least 23 persons who directly witnessed the tragedy and the residents of six nearby houses where deaths occurred will get special psychological counselling to recover from the mental trauma they are undergoing.
A special medical camp has been organised on the Puttingal temple premises by the ENT doctors of the district hospital providing treatment for local residents who were deafened in the blast.
