The Cloud Burst

5th August (I think) Leh


This night we had continuous loud thunder and lightening that seemed to last for hours, the cloud was against my bedroom window and the rain and hail were so exagerated because of the corrugated roof covering i thought the sky was falling down. In the morning after grovelling on the bathroom floor looking for my tiny nose ring that got caught on my towel tassel and fell out I went to the stream to wash my clothes, but it was empty - where's all the water gone ? All the Barley in the field is flattened. I wander into the town and every shop is closed - why? I bump into Paola my italian friend - where have you been for a whole week? we both asked each other - She told me that the bus station was flattened and a hugh mud / flood has washed away half of lower Leh. No one is doing anything - just standing around. I'm too shocked to know whether to go and see - go and help ? Not one cafe is open - everyone is shocked. I 've never seen so many tourists as I did today - all wandering around or going down to help.

People were trying to dig the mounds of mud around the collapsed buildings to look for people alive or bodies of the dead = both were found. I walked up to the Shanti Stupa - on high ground - the main hall was full of Ladaki's hiding from the rising river that runs through Leh and some tourists had pitched their tents as they'd been evacuated. The tourist area was safe. We were the lucky ones.

I met up with Paola and we started helping move debris and sort into piles - mud, wood, stone , bricks - it was tooo heavy work for us woman - and i dont think any of us felt we were heping much nor being utilised in a very effective way. We gave donations and I gave my clothes away. We have no electricity. No internet shops are open, no information is available. The next day a volunteer desk appears and buses and trucks are available to take us to villages - we go to the Hospital - its brand new and full of mud in the ground floor and basement - 1 ft high - but we have a line of people taking the wet heavy mud out in tin trays we pass it along the line and the other line sends the empties back in through the windows - the pile of mud outside is already huge. Crushed cars, vans, lorries litter the grounds with elec poles and all sorts of other debris. The old hospital every one died 80 people. and that needs emptying of mud also. The atmosphere is cheerful and lighthearted among the volunteers and we're given rice and veggies for lunch and driven back to the market area of Leh about 4pm. Tired.

Next day I go to Choglamsar - the worst area - it looks like its been bombed. Cars are buried in mud and have been pushed far down the village from where they were parked and landed on top of other peoples houses. We form lines with the soldiers and help with the mud chucking - it smells here and risk of Cholera is high - the army are also here with sniffer dogs as villagers are still looking for relatives. Huge bolders have been swept down from the hills and now form a solid wall where once there was a cross roads - there's a new river that flows fast where a number of houses once were. Someone asks us to help dig his 3ft of mud away from his garage - there's a van parked in front - we say sorry but houses are more important.

The next day I move hotels with Paola to the White Lotus - upper Kazoo - quiet and away from the Israeli's it only has 4 rooms and no one else is likely to come to Leh for a while. We go to Shey - a village about 1 hr away - there's a monastery for Nums with a school below it for disabled, sponsored children and some who have to pay. Its brand new - been designed by Europeans - its beautiful to look at - but its been built on a flood pain - DURR! each classroom is full of mud some 1ft - 3 ft we get in line and pass the empty buckets - i've learnt the full ones are too heavy for me. the empty line is meditative and boring - but if you get with good people its fun. If you are with people who are half asleep its awful.

I do some shovelling as we've nearly finished one classroom and sweep the floor with a tiny willow brush - its nice to have a solo job for a bit. Sometimes the volunteers can get a bit bossy or grumpy with each other (or be so switched off).

I'm wondering where some of the tourists are that i'd met in Leh over the last few weeks. We've heard stories of 17 who must have been swept away or hit by landslides while out trekking. Some managed to get back but lost all their equipment. Some had to walk for whole day from villages now stranded because the bridges have been swept away - the army make temporary bridges but we are told that they are really scary to cross because the water is so high and gushing.

Every night at the guest house I pack my emergency bag as the owners are scared of the river flooding - they wake me at 12pm to say we have to go - its raining and the river has risen - Paola and I decide we're fine and that we're going back to bed. The family leave us. In the morning - we tease them.

Wednesday 11 August

This evening we have a wash and dress and walk to the petrol pump in lower Leh and meet up with the 10,000 others who're going on a condolence march with candles - we didnt think to bring a plastic cup to protect our flames from the breeze so we walk unlit- the procession is peaceful, dignified and unbelievably moving. We all walk about 2km ending in the town - Paola and I were lucky enough to finish the last 2/300m with the nuns from one of the monasteries their chanting could not have been a more amazing end for us - it was like being in a film.


Waking up at 6.30am the owner is jumping on my ceiling whilst chanting - i'm kind of laughing but at the same time - wha????? - he's fixing a hole in the roof. If i ask him to stop - he'll start sweeping - if i ask him to stop sweeping - he'll put the radio on. I have to be brave and ask them to not to anything noisy til at least 9am ??? they are soooo apologetic I feel bad - but we all laugh.

Friday 13 August - what will today have in store for us?
Caught the volunteer bus to Shey school again - good day of mud shifting. Rice and Veggies. Find out that the Oracle (Tibetan woman (or man) who channels spirits to help heal people) in Choglamsar is still working every day and seeing people - I went to see one in Leh - they speak in a tongue none of the Ladaki's know how to translate. Maybe we'll go and see her. Take the bus back - and sit on top - its warm and a fun end to the day.

11.30pm i'm woken up by the family saying they're leaving the house because its raining and thunder and the river level has risen and and and - I say ok good night. I bang on Paola's door and yell but she's dead to the world and doesnt hear me. I hear a strange noise so I lock myself into my room and go back to sleep.