After the damage, older people need special attention

Amonth after the devastating floods in Kerala, some of the images of people battling the deluge and its aftermath keep coming back to mind. One in particular is that of a woman in her 80s, sitting outside her home, with head buried in hands. All the contents of the house — including the refrigerator, washing machine, furniture and books — were lying outside, left to dry in the sun. The house was bare, being washed for the third time to remove the stinking mud and dirt that the flood waters had left behind.

I did not have the heart to take a picture. Some images are best kept in the dark recesses of the mind.

A month on, the woman and her family have moved back into their home.

Electricity is back, some of the furniture has been salvaged. Other household goods will have to be replaced, and the agency will take two months to repair the car because every single vehicle in that area was under water and needs to be fixed.

But the emotional toll will take much longer to heal.

With many of their children living and working in the Gulf region, the United States or Europe, it is not an unusual sight to see homes in Kerala occupied only by elderly people. When the floods came without any warning, many in their 70s and 80s had to flee at a moment’s notice. Now they have to begin rebuilding — despite being physically and emotionally weaker.

It is here that children staying far away from their parents must step in, to reassure and encourage them, and to visit them whenever possible. Over the past few weeks, people came together to help those in need — a beautiful example of how much can be accomplished if we join hands for a cause. Teams were dispatched to distribute food, relief camps were set up and houses were cleaned. From the goodness of their heart, millions of people donated money and relief material. Reports described some of those donating aid — people who had saved for a rainy day, children who gave up their pocket money, friends who collected funds because they could not bear to see others in distress.

It is now the government’s responsibility to see that the aid is distributed wisely. It is a challenge to ensure that the money is used well, that the needy are looked after and the homeless find shelter. It requires a vision and coordinated action from those in office. This offers a good opportunity to rebuild the infrastructure from scratch and to make people feel that they are indeed living in ‘God’s own country’.