South Sikkim Earthquake Report

An afterthought
Gloria Namchu
18th September 2011 …….. will go down in our collective memory as a wakeup call for Sikkim.
Many a fire side tale will be spun around it for generations to come, many will eulogise it in their
poems, many will quote it, some will sing songs about it, many will pepper their conversations
with it, many a lesson on it will be taught in classrooms but let us not forget the many who
will recall and weep about it. The wake of death and destruction has left the majority of us
unscathed but there are families whose lives have been shattered by it, especially in those
places in the North district, which were located near the epicenter of the disastrous earth
quake.
For a couple of days after the quake, we were left reeling with the shock. In succession, we
took stock of our near and dear ones, kith and kin, friends, acquaintances and our material
assets. We are indeed fortunate to be alive and unharmed but there are those who have
been affected –precious lives lost, houses destroyed. 63 dead. Many injured. Thousands of
houses damaged. Some severely. Most of us are physically safe and secure but our landmark
public structures have borne the brunt. Tashiling Secretariat, the hotbed of state government
decision making; where many have received their initiation into public service; where many
civil servants like us have spent our formative years in the services; where many have toiled for
a lifetime in government service and retired from it; where many a public set foot to get their
grievances redressed; and so on was not spared. Religious institutions and schools all over
the state have also been damaged. The entire North was cut off from the rest of the state.
Well, for that matter, from the rest of the world. Chungthang was a picture of devastation. Our
landscape and almost every house bears scars caused by the quake.
Shaken, we have all been. But, is our consciousness stirred Today we have slipped back
into normal mode but as we mark the passage of a year after 18th September 2011, let us
not allow complacency pull a hood over eyes. Move on we must, but forget we must not. We
cannot continue in the same manner. Something somewhere has got to give.
We had not been through such a catastrophe, covering the entire length and breadth of our
state. And after being through the crisis, stronger is how we would have emerged. As individual
members of society and citizens of this state, we can introspect and make choices. Even if
the next disastrous earthquake is a lifetime away, by making safer choices, we can avoid
compromising on our own safety and that of future generations.
SOUTH SIKKIM EARTHQUAKE REPORT
41
September 18 2011