Danish Nabi
Kulangam (Handwara), July 28: After loosing their house in the 2005 earthquake, the nature chose this family for another spell of destruction on Sunday when the devastating windstorm made uninhabitable their newly constructed house here.
The Loan family of fruit growers has been living at the Veranda of their single storey house since Sunday evening as the wind blew apart the roof top of their house. The rainwater entered all rooms of the house, forcing the family to move out. The damaged house is surrounded by debris of roof top, fencing, damaged furnishing, clothes of the family members left for drying and the relatives who had come to see them.
The son of the family Tahir Ahmad Loan, said, “Our house was destroyed in 2005 quake and it took us almost four years to reconstruct the new one. But the nature did not spare us this time.”
Narrating the horrifying 60 minutes of devastation, the daughter-in-law of the family, Mubeena Loan, said, “I was sitting along with five kids in the house when the windstorm started. As it gained speed kids started shouting and we all shrunk in one corner of the kitchen. The roof of our house blew apart with a bang and my infant daughter, Tabish, became unconscious,” she narrated.
“The windstorm was followed by the intense rainfall and hailstorm. The rains entered into all the rooms and I had to rush to our neighbor’s for shelter. The children of the family were crying and it was impossible to calm them down,” she said.
Another daughter-in-law of the family Aisha Loan wife of Muhammad Iqbal Loan, said she was out in the orchard when the windstorm hit the area.
“When the wind started, it appeared everything would be blown apart. Hell was let loose on the area and I went to a house near the orchard for shelter. It was more horrifying than the 2005 quake,” she said.
“My three-year-old son, Zakir Loan, was playing at the canal nearby and the wind had drowned him in the water. He was rescued by his aunt and she brought him home when the storm stopped,” she said.
The family comprises of three women, five children and three men. Most members of the family, however, were away from the house when the earthquake struck. “I was coming back to home in a sumo when the windstorm struck. We could not move ahead in that storm. I was aware that the storm could have damaged everything at my home but the storm did not allow me to come for their rescue,” Muhammad Iqbal Loan said.
“When I returned home I saw the roof top was blown apart and my family had run out to neighbor’s house. Soon the other family members returned and we had to spend the night outside the house. Everything was destroyed and it will take us months to repair the damage,” he added.
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