UAE-BASED TEACHER RECOUNTS HER ORDEAL AT RELIEF CAMPS
Accompanied by a 48-day-year-old baby and her aged parents, a UAE-based teacher and victim of the Kerala floods, was shifted from four refugee camps in a matter of 24 hours. Due to the torrential rain and lack of space and necessary supplies in many refugee shelters, the teacher’s family had to move camps every few hours.
Manju Manoj, a music teacher with the Woodlem Park School in Ajman, spoke about her traumatic experiences over the last four days, and said she is worried about her family’s future. “Nothing prepared us for what happened. Our home is fully submerged in water. How can I go back to the UAE when I know my parents and sister are not safe,” said Manju.
Speaking to Khaleej Times from the Vishwajyothi Public School Refugee Camp in Angamaly, Manju said that her family left for Ernakulam on July 3 as her school closed for the summer holidays. “I have been living in the UAE for four years. We were at home in Manjoor, Kaladay, when the rains began getting increasingly bad. Our house is only 1.5km away from the Periyar river, and every time there was a rise in water levels, our house is flooded.”
She added: “On Monday, the situation got increasingly bad. And we shifted all our things to the first floor. However, on Tuesday morning, people in the area began mak- ing announcements and asked us to evacuate our houses immediately.” The water levels in the neighbouring areas were also rising in a matter of minutes, and she was forced to evacuate without her husband.
Manju packed her important identification documents and left the house with her son, parents, sister and her sister’s infant. “Our husbands were in separate camps at the moment, and couldn’t get to us because the roads were completely blocked,” she added.
Shuttled from camp to camp
On Tuesday night Manju’s family was taken to the WLPS Government School camp in Kalady. “There were 300 to 400 people in this camp. It is a tiny school, and it was cramped. We spent the entire night there,” she said. Unfortunately, at 6am the next morning, the camp began to flood. The family, along with everyone else in the camp, was asked to evacuate immediately. “We cannot travel with ease because we have a small baby,” she said.
However, with help from the fireforce, Kerala Police, and the army, the entire camp was evacuated and moved to the Shri Sankara College camp in Kalady. “We were packed into lorries and cars like cattle and forced to shift. At the Sankara College camp, there were 2,000 people. There was no place to sit down as well. My husband was in a camp in Kacheripadi, and it was terrifying to be all alone. Since this camp was not a place for a small baby, we decided to shift again,” she added.
The supplies at these camps, according to Manju, were of inferior quality. “The clothes and blankets we received were torn and old. There were no diapers for the baby; there was nothing.” Finally, a boat took them to the Vishwajyothi Public School in Angamaly. “It is good there right now; we have clothes. The volunteers in these camps got new commodities after we requested for it,” she added.
However, going back home is not an option for Manju and her family. “We were told that water levels have slightly receded, and some of our relatives went to clean the house.”
However, there was a lot of damage to the property, and there were snakes in their homes. Manju said: “The family is considering renting an apartment in a safe area for a few months until the damage to the house has been repaired.” The teacher has booked return tickets to Dubai on September 2 but is not sure how she can return.
Family suffers heavy loss
A Sharjah-based homemaker, Sujatha Dev, told Khaleej Times the last week had been a nightmare for their family. She said: “Both my sons, aged 32 and 27, are in Kerala at the moment. They were in Paravur in Ernakulam, and for the last three days the water levels were neck-high in these areas. I was so worried for my sons.”
However, after Dev learnt that her sons were safe, they broke the news to their mother that the ground floor of their newly-built home was submerged in water. “The worst part is that I had just moved several things from Dubai. We lost a lot of things for our new home. We have lost so much in these floods.” The family did not take an insurance policy on their home and have suffered property damage amounting to thousands.
Sujith Rajendran, a former resident of Dubai and an upcoming Malayalam cinema actor, said: “I
The clothes and blankets we received were torn and old. There were no diapers for the baby; there was nothing.”
Manju Manoj, music teacher, Woodlem Park School, Ajman
was engaged in rescue operations, and had to walk through neck-deep water to get to people. Some people have lost so many of their material possessions; it might seem like a small thing to others. It is so heartbreaking to see people suffer.”