A twenty-two member group of Sunhari Colony that reached Ajmer on Monday from Uttarakhand is still in a state of shock. “It was sheer hell. We spent four days without anything to eat,” recalled Revati Prasad, one of the seniors in the group. “I don’t remember who was it but someone asked us to climb the hill. We rushed to a hilltop and remained there,” added Narendra Kumar, another member of the group.
The group that reached Kedarnath on June 15, had women and children also in it. “We offered prayers in the temple and returned to Rambara. Next morning we heard people screaming outside. They were running helter-skelter,” added Rajesh Kumar. He said there was water everywhere as it was raining heavily. “Someone shouted that we should run towards the hilltop and we did that. That voice saved us,” said Bina, who was also in the group.
Recounting the horror, Revati Prasad said, “When I saw down from the hill I was shocked to see that the ashram where we had stayed had been washed away. The animals and their owners too were washed away by the floods. The market in Rambara vanished.”
There were about three hundred people from different states on the hilltop. “We had left our luggage and food in the ashram and we were where we had stayed and had nothing to eat. There was no relief for four long days. There were dead bodies all around the foothill. It was only our will power that helped us survive,” added Rajesh Kumar.
The group members claimed that about two dozen people among those who sought refuge on the hilltop died due to hunger and thirst. “The stench of the bodies was so strong that we could not even sleep,” said Narendra.
Finally when the Army’s chopper arrived the people were so weak that some of them could not even stand up. They were taken to Pata from where the group reached Haridwar on their own. Some women complained that their jewellery was taken away by people on their way from Pata to Haridwar.
src: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/jaipur/Ajmer-group-recalls-horror-of-surviving-in-Uttarakhand/articleshow/20751942.cms