Dehradun airport's wall plastered with hundreds of photographs of missing

Just outside the back gate of the Jolly Grant Airport in Dehradun, the anxiety for missing pilgrims caught in the Uttarakhand flash floods is now turning to anger. 11 days after disaster struck the Kedar Valley, thousands of people have been missing.

Jun 27, 2013 17:31 IST

The wall and the door of Jolly Grant airport in Dehradun have been plastered with hundreds of photographs and contact details of family members who still haven't been traced. Every time reporters reach a spot, traumatised people rush and surround them, flagging photographs of their loved ones.

Many of those at the airport gate who were also pilgrims who came down from the mountains, claim they had seen hundreds of bodies caught in the raging rivers or buried under debris.
The focus is still on rescuing and evacuating the living, and the administration is having a tough time to collate data on the dead.
The anger is now brewing against the state government, which relatives claim has still not focused on those dead or missing.

NGOs and locals are helping with food and water. It is the endless wait and trauma of uncertainty that has become a living death for thousands of people across the country.
Reports suggest that 1600 First Information Reports (FIRs) on missing people have already been registered with the Uttarakhand Police. On the other hand, the task for the administration and the armed forces is onerous since many could have been swept away by the flash floods or worse, got buried under silt, rocks and mud.
The next focus, sources in the Air Force say, is to move with the help of helicopters equipment to dig into several feet of debris in the Kedar Valley to look for missing people, a process which has already begun.