Uttarakhand Relief Work

Moved up to Rudraprayag from Srinagar. The road to  Rudraprayag is full of slush for many kilometers on end – the whole mountainside just slided down into the river carrying everything along with it. It’s the interiors of the mountains that need real help – the places where the spotlights of the news cameras haven’t reached yet.After reaching Rudraprayag, we decided to take a risk and move on to Agastaya Muni – a further 45 km upstream towards Kedarnath. The direct route had been washed out – and only a treacherous alternate village road led up to it –  with Ammas Grace we managed to reach there, and set up our first medical camp  – over 250 patients were given free consultation and medicines on the first day itself.

As we reach higher into the interiors of the mountains, the scenes of devastation get more grim, and the tales of hardships intensify – of bustling towns which are just memories now – along with their residents – or of entire villages still waiting and hoping that its menfolk, who were engaged in the shops and temples of Kedarnath  might be alive.

We are trying to reach out to those areas. With the roads having completely disappeared beyond Agatsya Muni (see pic),  a team led by Br Nijamrita,  trekked 25 km through the mountain terrain and managed to reach Guptkashi – a heavily affected and completely cut off town. After scouting through the villages in the area, they decided that the team of doctors from AIMS should come there for immediate medical assistance as no medical team has reached there till now. The doctors along with a  fully equipped ambulance is already on its way to the Agastya Muni camp.

– Mukesh