‘Landslide survivors want jobs, not just govt aid’

Survivors of the Irsalwadi landslide a week after the natural disaster are gradually coming to terms with their loss and are now concerned about their future Their houses savings and farms are destroyed and buried under the rubble of the landslide leaving them with no source of livelihood As a result many of them are seeking jobs to start a new life from scratchCitybased psychiatrists emphasise the toll the disaster has taken on the survivors losing not only their homes and livelihood but also enduring the ongoing rains in makeshift arrangementsTrekkers on their way to Irsalgad right Sunil Pardersquos shop that he used to run during the trekking season PicsSunil PardeOne survivor Sunil Parde 25 is still in shock after losing everything in the landslide His family survived but they now reside in one of the containers Parde worries about the future of his family including his mother Chandra Bahu Parde 40 wife Chandrakala 21 his two children and younger brother Sachin 23Everything is overParde recalled ldquoThat night we were at our relativersquos house in a nearby village and had locked our house In the morning when we rushed to the site on learning about the landslide everything was overrdquoNew music system cash gold under debrisldquoI had big plans to start my own mandap decoration work for my brotherrsquos wedding which was scheduled for Diwali I even bought two sound systems and some clothes for decoration spending over R40000 My wifersquos gold and some cash around a lakh which we were saving for my brotherrsquos wedding and for me to buy a DJ system itrsquos all gonerdquo said an emotional Parde ldquoUnlike me who is a school dropout studied till Std IX my brother Sachin has completed HSC and we had arranged a girl for him from Murbad Thane district but now we have nothingmdashno house no work no moneyrdquoExtra incomeParde used to earn extra income by selling vegetables like cucumber and snake gourd in the market at Chouk He also travelled to the Panvel market occasionally During weekends he served vegetarian lunch plates for R155 and nonvegetarian plates for over R200 for trekkers The business season was from June to Diwali when trekkers from various places including Mumbai Panvel Thane Pune and outside Maharashtra visited the area As the season progresses the number of trekkers gradually reduceJobs for our handsThe survivors including Parde and his family are now desperately searching for jobs to rebuild their lives since they have lost everythingldquoWe have lost everything and we are looking for jobs for our hands and to restart from scratch as we have no farm no house no money left The local administration gave us Rs 5000 when we shifted to the containerrdquo said PardeLivelihood a mustSantosh Thakur founder president of Gram Sanvardhan Samajik Sanstha advocates for the governmentrsquos assistance in providing job opportunities for young survivors to help them support their families and overcome the trauma they have experiencedThe other sideAyub Tamboli Tahsildar Khalapur said ldquoThe immediate concern was to ensure that the survivors are rehabilitated and we have almost taken care of that We have many industries and factories in and around Khalapur and we are keen to provide vocational and skill training to them so that they can earn a livingfor themselvesrdquoPsychiatrists speakDr Bharat Vatwani and Dr Harish ShettyDr Bharat Vatwani a Ramon Magsaysay Award winner and psychiatrist said ldquoWhile grief will overpower those who have lost their loved ones Reactive Depression and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder PTSD will not spare the ones who have not lost their loved ones Losing a home hearth and livelihood will take its toll on everyone Repetitive ruminations on the future of their own lives and their offspring will bludgeon their desire to survive and needed coping mechanismsrdquoDr Harish Shetty another psychiatrist pointed out ldquoPostdisaster the victims who have not lost their family members are generally ignored receive less attention and remain invisible Loss of livelihood home and savings under the rubble have similar mental health issues as others In the rehab plan counselling should be provided free of cost Providing livelihood is also a mental health initiativerdquo