SIKKIM OBSERVER Sept 24-30, 2011

PM to visit Sikkim on Sept 27

Gangtok, Sept 23: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is expected to visit Sikkim next week on September 27.

According to Information and Public Relations Secretary K S Tobgay, said the State Government will submit a report on damages caused by Sunday’s earthquake to the Prime Minister during his visit here.

Briefing the media at the newly-established Media Centre here today, Tobgay said the death toll of the quake has risen to 77 and about 700 persons have been injured.

Government employees of the State Government has also decided to contribute one day of their salary to the quake victims, the Secretary said.

In order to effectively implement relief and rehabilitation works in North Sikkim, former North Sikkim District Collector TN Kazi has been appointed overall charge of North Sikkim Relief Operations.

In a major disaster the residential building belonging to Sports Secretary Karma Bhutia here in the capital collapsed last evening. Luckily, Bhutia and members of his family managed to get out of the house two minutes before the crash.

Several buildings at the vicinity of Bhutia’s building here at Vajra cinema hall complex have also been badly damaged.

People demand scrapping of mega hydel projects

Gangtok, Sept 23: In Tibetan Buddhism Sikkim is considered one of the few sacred and ‘hidden’ places for Buddhist pilgrims. Defilement of such places leads to unnatural calamities such as the one experienced on Sunday when a 6.9 magnitude earthquake gave a massive jolt to the Himalayan State killing more than 70 persons and causing extensive damages all over the State.

More and more people are now beginning to feel that the main reason for the largescale destruction to life and properties is because of the umpteen number of hydel projects coming up in the State, particularly in north Sikkim, the source of Teesta, the largest river in the State.

Senior Congress leader KN Upreti is convinced that power project companies are not revealing the real truth on lives lost during the tremor. “They are concealing the facts on deaths that occurred during the quake and thereafter,” Upreti said.

While urging the government to probe into the matter, Upreti said labour unions must “dig out the truth.”

A local contractor in North Sikkim said, “More than 700 persons are killed in the vicinity of the power projects but the authorities are keeping mum mainly because they have to pay a lot of compensation.”

The Sikkim Bhutia-Lepcha Apex Committee (SIBLAC) President Tseten Tashi Bhutia has blamed Governor BP Singh for ignoring his plea on scrapping the “anti-Buddhist power projects” in the State.

“Despite being apprised on the religious aspect and significance on the matter on numerous occasions” Singh remained a “mute spectator.”

“At this hour of natural tragedy, we stand by the Government and the earthquake victims and also, once again request it to immediately scrap those insensible power projects that pollute or desecrate the very sanctity of our dharma,” Bhutia said in a press statement.

He added, “We support and express gratitude to the National Minority Commission (India Government) for having advising the Government of Sikkim to scrap all the anti-Buddhist mega power projects.”

“The area between Chungthang and Toong near Mangan, which is the worst affected has many sacred pilgrimage centres of Guru Rinpoche, who visited Sikkim in the 8^th century,” said T. Lachenpa.

Mayalmit Lepcha, an anti-mega dam social activist associated with Affected Citizens of Teesta (ACT), which unsuccessfully organized a 915-day hunger strike a few years back protesting against hydel projects in north Sikkim, has urged all Sikkimese to pressure the authorities to scrap the ongoing 14 mega power projects in north Sikkim.

“We once again, with folded hand, call upon the policymakers to once again rethink, re-assess and scrap all 14- mega power projects from the region that are either under operation,” Lepcha, who hails from Dzongu in north Sikkim, said in a statement.

In response to agitated tribals the State Government has decided to send a team of officials to Lachen in north Sikkim in a chopper if the weather is good. Information and Public Relations Secretary KS Tobgay said the team would ascertain the damages caused by the quake and other relief and rehabilitation to be taken.

JIgme N Kazi

CM visit north Sikkim

Gangtok, Sept 23: Five days after the devastating earthquake Chief Minister Pawan Chamling finally visited Mangan, headquarters of north Sikkim, one of the four districts most affected by Sunday’s earthquake. Mangan and its adjoining areas – Pagong and Chungthang – were the epicenter of the 6.9 magnitude earthquake.

Chief Secretary Karma Gyatso while holding a high-level coordination meeting here today to review relief operation work in the State said the Chief Minister left for Mangan this morning “to make an assessment of the damages caused by the recent earthquake and to listen to the people’s grief and to oversee the rescue and relief operations.” From there the Chief Minister will proceed to south and west districts, Gyatso said.

The meeting was attended by Heads of all the Departments, GOC,17 Mountain Division, Chief Engineer, Border Roads Organisation, representatives from SSB, ITBP, National Disaster Rescue Force (NDRF) and other agencies.

Gyatso said funds have also been sanctioned during the meeting held on 22nd September chaired by the Chief Minister for the Gram Panchayat Units. He also apprised that the meeting also sanctioned Rs. 5 lakhs to each Gram Panchayat, Rs. 10 lakhs each to the Pipon of Lachen and Lachung, Rs. 50 lakhs to each District Collector, Rs. 10 lakhs each to the Sub Division Magistrate and Rs. 5 Lakhs each to the Block Development Officers over and above their regular miscellaneous expenditure for relief and rehabilitation works.

One lakh each to the relief camps was also sanctioned in the meeting. The Chief Secretary informed that about hundred relief camps are established in the state which is supervised by the Block Development Officers.

What is noteworthy is that the State Government had directed the Secretary Information and Public Relations (IPR) Department for setting up Media Centre in the capital.

Mediapersons are having great difficulty in obtaining necessary informations related to the recent quake. “When you go to the information centre here to get the right picture of the state of affairs in the entire state we are directed to go to the police headquarters. When the police HQ is approached the officials tell us to go to IPS Secretary. It’s very frustrating,” said a local journalist.

There is absolute no information of the situation in Lachen in extreme north Sikkim  bordering Tibet. Reports indicate only one non-local died in Lachen and damages to houses and buildings are minor. However, there are strong rumours of “larva flow” at the sacred Gurudongmar lake. Unconfirmed reports say that Tso Lhamu,the source of Teesta river in Lachen has burst.

Police and intelligence sources cannot still confirm this rumour. “There is no communication from Lachen and the authorities have focused on Chungthang and Lachung only,” said a frustrated Lachenpa in the capital.

IS THE BIG ONE COMING? 

Dr. Sonam B. Wangyal

In 1994 Himalmagazine (Kathmandu) ran an article by R. Bilham who is with the Department of Geological Sciences in the University of Colorado, USA. The periodical being a bit academic with a pricey tag attached to it the readership was restricted to a limited numbers of readers and therefore Bilham's article did not cause the tremor it could and should have. His article on the chances of a great earthquake in the near future in the Himalayan region shook me very strongly and the aftershocks kept on coming for many days. The essay was discussed with many of my friends and they lampooned me as a believer of a doomsday merchant. My knowledge of the mechanisms leading to an earthquake was at best scanty, and not knowing anything beyond what I had read there was really no way that I could hold the fort during our discussions. Nevertheless, Bilham's article still shakes me and after the recent Gujarat quake my mind is often troubled with tremors of a much higher intensity.

I shall endeavour to explain Bilham's hypothesis in the simplest language possible. The earth's surface consists of a number of large, rigid plates that move relative to one another and interact at their boundaries. Some billions of years ago the northward moving Indian plate slipped underneath the Asian plate pushing it both horizontally northwards and upwards. This led to the upheavals forming the Himalaya. The movement still continues and the convergence rate of India towards Tibet is 2cm a year and that is compensated by the Indian plate slipping under the Asian plate. However, if the slip does not occur it would mean that 2cm of convergence remains stored in the rocks as elastic strain. If no slip has occurred in 100 years the stored strain would be 2cm X 100 or 2m, in 200 years 4m and should the slip occur after 500 years the movement would be 10m resulting in a mega-quake of around M=8 (or a reading of 8 on the Richter Scale).

Any major compensatory movement requires an event exceeding M=7 and Bilham's observation is that in the Himalayan segment between Kathmandu and Dehradun has not had that for several thousands of years. The records show only two large earthquakes, 1803 and 1833, and Bilham does not believe they were great earthquakes else they would have caused massive devastations and the British administration would have records of the widespread destruction and the efforts taken for reconstruction. It therefore appears that the chance of a great earthquake is real since sometime in the future the plates must make an adjustment. Of course a pent up force of several thousands of years never undergoes adjustment in just one big shake-up but the alarming arithmetic is that even if 500 years were to be adjusted the movement would be 10m and such an event would measure Magnitude Eight on the Richter Scale. 

To understand the effects of an M=8 plus event we can study the Great Bihar Earthquake of 1934, which did not evidently cross M=8, but came close to it. At 2:13 pm on 15 January two million square miles of northern India and western Nepal shook violently for 5 minutes. It took another 15 minutes for ceiling lamps to stop swinging in Calcutta and many more days for the dust to settle from the landslides in the mountains of Nepal. At Darjeeling a number of badly constructed houses totally collapsed, in many buildings cracks appeared or walls fell out and lots of bungalows were damaged by the fall of masonry chimneys crashing through the roofs. A ground fissure, over 300 yards long, appeared below the station yard in Tindharia and numerous breaches were seen all along the cart road. Should a Nepal-Dehradun great earthquake occur then north Bengal is assured of some consequences just as in the case of Bihar Earthquake. The point is not when it will come, since earthquakes are inevitable and necessary features of adjustment between the tectonic plates, but of our preparedness. Matters like maintenance of essential supplies, handling fire hazards, law and order problems, outbreak of diseases, post shock syndrome counseling and the eventual reconstruction are but a few of the many things that will need a look into. However, the greatest tragedy and hurt will be the loss of lives and that can never be restored but, and it is ,an important but, it can be prevented. Studies of earthquakes have shown that the major cause of deaths has always been due to poorly constructed buildings. Over the past few decades buildings have mushroomed all over the hills of Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Kurseong and Sikkim and are these structures built according to any studied and proven system of seismic resistant building codes or have they been built under outdated or whimsical codes will need to be considered seriously. That even these codes can be bypassed was proven a large building in Gangtok going down recently without the violence of an earthquake and such a vulnerable building could not be an isolated case. It is never too early to begin the process to prevent loss of lives but I could be talking to the wall, for all you know or care.

A Lachenpa dies in Mangan after the deadly 9/18 quake

“May we be reunited for a worthy cause”

Hill Media Network

Mangan, Sept 23:  Tenzing Danen, eldest son of late Lachen Yapla (RN Kazi) of Lachen, North Sikkim, died in Mangan a day after the terrible earthquake on Sunday (Sept 18).

Danen was rushed to the Mangan hospital on Sept 17 when he complained of severe head and stomach ache. The sudden earthquake which took place at around 6.10 pm on Sunday (9/18) shook the whole area. Everyone fled from the hospital, leaving  Danen and his wife there.

Shaken up by the tremor (6.8 magnitude) Danen and his wife left the hospital and returned to their home at the Power Department Colony located near Mangan bazaar. Already suffering from high blood pressure the tremor that shook the whole of Sikkim added to his agony. Mangan, headquarters of North Sikkim district, was the epicenter of the powerful earthquake that has led to more than 70 deaths in the State. Damages to houses, buildings, roads all over the State, particularly in North Sikkim, is extensive.

At home  Danen fell in his bathroom leading to further deterioration of his condition. He was rushed to the hospital again late Monday (9/19) afternoon and died soon after at around 4.30 pm.

The funeral took place at Pentok in Mangan on Wednesday (9/21). Since the areas (Chungthang, Lachen and Lachung) around Mangan were totally cut off by the quake and subsequent landslides none of his family members, relatives and friends could attend the funeral which was led by Nade Tsampa Lama and Lachung Khenpo.

Other family members, relatives and friends from the rest of Sikkim also could not attend the funeral since the road communication and other communication systems in the State snapped after the tragic incident of 9/18. However, his younger brother Jigme N Kazi and his wife Tsering and  family members, his sisters from Ben (South Sikkim) and Gangtok and some of their family members  made it to the funeral.

Members of  Danen’s family wish to thank all those who took great risks to attend the funeral and personally be with the bereaved family. They have also expressed their deep sense of appreciation and a special ‘thank you’ to the people of Mangan who helped them in our hour of bereavement. The residents of Mangan, already traumatized by the deadly quake and still living in fear and apprehension, extended their support and sympathy to the bereaved family when it was really needed.

Tenzing Danen (61), an ex-student of Gangtok’s Tashi Namgyal Academy (TNA), was the eldest son of former Lachen Pipon, late Rinzing Namgyal Kazi (Lachen Yapla). Danen was perhaps the third Lachenpa to come to study in Gangtok in the late 1950s. Since 1968 and till his demise, Danen has been working in roads, bridges and buildings construction works in the State as a contractor.

But more than a contractor he was a social worker – a simple person who was always there for everyone when they needed him. He will, therefore, be deeply missed and forever remembered by those who knew him. He is survived by his wife (Rinchen) and 8-year-old son Tashi Pintso.

A message to the deceased from his family members: “You lived a good life. Your good karma and the blessings of the gods and great beings and our prayers will carry you through your journey to a good rebirth. May we be reunited and live together again for a worthy cause.”

Mangan Residents disgusted with authorities

Mangan, Sept 22: Many local residents of this small town, the epicenter of Sunday’s massive quake, are disgusted with the authorities, including the army, for not doing enough after the disaster.

“The officials hold meetings for hours and nothing happens after that,” said an angry local resident. “The authorities need to visit the affected areas, particularly the villages,” he added.

The North Sikkim Highway has been closed to traffic after the quake and the only lifeline to this district is the Singtam-Dikchu-Mangan road. On Tuesday (Sept 20) this route was closed down at two places for about 4 hours due to landslides.

The first landslide took place near Dikchu town, where the Teesta Stage V hydel project dam is located. “Both the State government and the army claim that relief workers and GREF personnel are on the alert to help the people. Where are they”, said a villager near Dikchu.

When a huge boulder had blocked this route below Thingchim near Rangrang below Mangan no one came to clear the road despite informing the authorities in Gangtok and Mangan. Passengers of the 30 odd vehicles which got stuck on the road did the clearing themselves.

“Seven houses were damaged in our village during the earthquake but so far no one has come to our rescue,” said a villager near Rangrang.

Residents of Dikchu town, which is on the verge of being submerged because of the dam water, were panicking. When asked about their distress Arun Oberoi, a local resident, said, “We are told that Tso Lhamu lake has busted and we are ordered to evacuate to go up higher.”

Tso Lhamu lake in northern Lachen is the source of the Teesta, the biggest river in the State, which flows down Lachen, through Chungthang, Mangan, Dikchu, Rongpo and Siliguri in the plains.

The Teesta looked awfully muddy in the past two weeks and it is worse after the quake. “Since the Dikchu-Mangan road is the only road linking Mangan with the rest of the State it is very important that the authorities give priority to this route on a hourly basis,” said T. Bhutia, a Mangan resident.

Several persons in Mangan said hundreds have been killed during and after the quake but the authorities, including hydel project officials, have kept mum. “They have either been buried under the rubble or trapped in the tunnels,” said a local contractor.

“Several people traveled through the tunnel to reach Mangan from Chungthang,” a government official in Mangan said.

“I wanted to go to my village in Lachung but when I came across two dead bodies near Toong (near Teesta in between Mangan and Chungthang) I got scared and came back,” said a younger man from Lachung working for Teesta Stage V in Dikchu.

Residents in Mangan continue to sleep outside their houses even three days after the tragic incident. There was another quake in Mangan at around 1 pm on Tuesday night which forced many to leave their houses in the middle of the night. A huge landslide in Dzongu, opposite Mangan, followed the tremour.

“I am very disgusted with the government taking advantage of the tragic situation. The government claims that one lac buildings have been damaged in the State. Where are the one lac buildings? Our population is just six lacs,” said a senior government official.

Locals here are more than convinced that tragedy was compounded mainly because of the construction works, including tunnels, of mega hydel projects in the State which mainly lie in north Sikkim. The Teesta project in Chungthang and nearby Pegong in north Sikkim is 1200MW. This region is the worst affected.

“We tried our best to oppose the projects but the government was adamant. Now the mountain gods have struck and the people realize what is happening,” said an observer.

Editorial

THE WRATH OF GOD

Heed The Warning, Scrap Mega Hydel Projects

We have been warned many times to respect and preserve our natural environment and cultural heritage. For nearly a thousand days the Lepchas of Sikkim, who live close to nature, spoke to us of the need to scrap all mega hydel projects in north Sikkim. The authorities, motivated by their greed and lust for power, did not heed the warning and made the hunger strikers suffer in silence. Eventually, a deal was struck at high level with the usual power-brokers playing a key role in the negotiation and the protest was called off reluctantly.

Men’s extremity is God’s opportunity. Nature will surely come to the rescue of those who support it. Former Chief Minister Nar Bahadur Bhandari is convinced that there is devi and dewta in Sikkim though, at times, they react at a slow pace. The earthquake (6.9 on the Richter Scale) that shook Sikkim on September 18 is a grim warning to those who continue to suppress the voice of reason and the just and democratic aspirations of the people. The area between Mangan and Chungthang in north Sikkim, where many mega hydel projects are located, has been the worst affected not only because of  it being the epicenter but also because of the tremendous damage done to the environment and ecology of the region by project construction workers.

Most of the dead in this area are workers at the construction works of the projects and are basically non-locals. Though damages to properties by the quake throughout the State and particularly in the Mangan-Chungthang-Lachen-Lachung region has been extensive the loss of lives has been minimal compared to the magnitude of the quake. In such a major shake-up thousands would have surely lost their life. The peace-loving and religious people of Sikkim are convinced that while it is the wrath of the mountain gods (yul-lha-zhibda) that struck Sikkim on 9/18 their protecting deities also saved them from a major catastrophe. It is noteworthy that the Lachenpas who stiffly opposed hydel projects in their area have been spared while those who gave up their fight mid-way and those who welcomed mega hydel projects are now living in fear and tension. This indeed is a stern warning for everyone, particularly to those in high places whose decisions, major or minor, affect the lives of the people.

Mamata visits Sikkim, reaches out to people

Observer News Service

  Gangtok, Sept 23: The Chief Minister of West Bengal  Mamta Banerjee on Tuesday assured all assistance to Sikkim to cope up with  the problems facing  the State in the wake of a massive earthquake that followed a trail of devastation in terms of human casualties and loss of properties.

 After her arrival here she drove straight to the Central Manipal Referral Hospital at Tadong and saw the condition of  the earthquake victims who are undergoing treatment.  She enquired about the condition of patients undergoing treatment with the doctors attending on them. She was accompanied by Union Minister Mukul Roy and  Sikkim Lok Sabha MP P D Rai during the visit.

          Mamata later visited Tashi Namgyal Memorial Hospital (STNM) to see for herself  the condition of the earthquake victims. The visit of West Bengal Chief Minister is seen as expression of her personal sympathy with the earthquake victims in their hour of suffering.

          The General Officer Commanding –in- Chief of the Eastern Command of the Army Lieutenant  General  Bikram Singh called on the Governor and Chief Minister and assured all help in relief and rescue operations in the affected areas.

          Briefing the media, General Singh said that some five thousand five hundred army personnel are undertaking the relief and rescue work in the State. Three thousand of them are deployed in the North district alone. Besides, two hundred more have reached Mangan by road on Tuesday morning. He said, thirty army personnel were air dropped at Mangan and twenty five at Chungthang to help in the operations. General Singh said, army helicopters have taken thirty critically injured persons to the Army Hospital at Bengdubi near Siliguri in West Bengal which included fourteen civilians. Describing the situation in the North district   beyond Chungthang as very bad, he expressed confidence that things will come to normal very soon.

Power Ministry directs NHPC to help with relief & rehabilitation

Observer News Service

New Delhi, Sept 23: Ministry of Power asks NHPC to assist Sikkim Government in earthquake  relief and rehabilitation work.

Ministry of Power has asked the National Hydro Power Corporation (NHPC) to extend all possible assistance to State Government of Sikkim to bring normalcy to the earthquake affected areas near NHPC’s Teesta Hydel Power Station and Rangit Hydel Power Station in the State.

Minister of State for Power K.C. Venugopal held a review meeting in New Delhi on the situation in the State and asked the NHPC to act on a war footing and spare its men & machinery for clearing the roads and other rehabilitation works.

The Minister also took stock of the post-earth quake situation at 510 MW Teesta Hydel Power Station and 60 MW Rangit Hydel Power Station. In the review meeting, it was decided to avail the services of seismic experts from IIT Roorkee to analyse the earthquake data and conduct the earthquake impact study at the dam sites of NHPC in the region and more specifically those in Sikkim.

Apart from this, an Expert Team of Geologists, Engineers and senior executives of NHPC from its Headquarters in Delhi was also asked to visit the site and submit report to the Ministry. Power Supply position in Gangtok was also reviewed and Power Grid Corporation was instructed to expedite restoration of power. North Eastern Electric Power Corporation (NEEPCO) was also asked to compile the seismic data collected from its power stations in North Eastern States for further analysis at IIT Roorkee. (pib)

Anger over 'lethargic response' to Sikkim quake

By Suvojit Bagchi

In parts of the earthquake-hit Indian state of Sikkim, conditions on the ground are little short of apocalyptic.

Entire areas are cut off because of landslides - and more often than not people are without clean water, adequate food supplies, medicine and telephone contact with the outside world.

Sikkim's hospitals have seldom been so full.

With local people bereft of help, it is hardly surprising that this disaster has created some resentment among them.

I experienced this overwhelming sense of frustration near Mangan - the epicentre of Sunday's quake - when a group of villagers stopped my car and demanded an explanation.

"Why are reporters focusing on the good work by the government, while no aid has reached any of the villages?" one of them angrily demanded.

Such was the angst of villagers that they seized my equipment and only returned it only after extracting a promise from me that I would report the "real story".

One of them, Rasi Tobgay, spoke for many when describing the destruction on the ground and the suffering of local people.

"It is impossible to take the seriously injured to the hospital because army helicopters are hovering with ministers in the sky," he said.

'Inactive' authorities

The villagers say little aid has been delivered beyond Mangan, although food packets have been air-dropped intermittently by the Indian air force.

 It is estimated that about 100,000 houses have been damaged

Chungthang is in the southern end of north Sikkim and it is in this area that the quake has been the most catastrophic.

Hardly any parts of north Sikkim, connecting India to Tibetan plateau, have received any substantial aid since Sunday.

Action Aid spokeswoman Banamallika Choudhury - who has reached Chungthang - told the BBC that there have been no more than one or two daily helicopter sorties.

"Two helicopters can carry no more than three or four tonnes of food or medical supplies - and that is nothing for thousands of villagers," she said.

Ms Choudhury says that apart from rescuing a handful of tourists, the authorities have remained largely "inactive" in the face of a huge humanitarian disaster.

"The roads are still cut off, there is no supply of electricity or telephone connectivity and the villagers have to arrange for the rebuilding of houses while providing first aid to the injured," she said.

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

Conditions are going from bad to worse as more patients arrive for treatment having walked from distant villages to Gangtok”

Doctor in Gangtok

Ms Choudhury says that local people "harassed" journalists who arrived in Chungthang on Wednesday night because they believe that the media has unthinkingly projected only the government's side of the story.

So has the response of the authorities been inadequate? Whatever the answer, there is no doubt they face numerous formidable challenges.

Principal among these are landslides, still taking place on a regular basis because of the quake and because recent heavy rainfall has loosened much of the mountainous land mass.

The state government may be stating the obvious when it reiterates that aid cannot get through while roads remained blocked, but it remains a valid point.

One such post-quake landslide recently washed away several houses in Jaangu area, close to Chungthang.

"We are still counting the casualties," Sikkim government spokesman KS Tobgay told the BBC.

Bombarded by boulders

While the main road link connecting Sikkim to mainland India - national highway 31A - has reopened with a disturbed traffic flow, Border Roads Organisation (BRO) employees say that the task of clearing the highways is not getting any easier.

 Relief is being delivered, but critics say it is too little, too late

"We are working around the clock but even then traffic movement remains disrupted," BRP spokesman Rajaram Pal told me.

He said that the loosening of the land mass meant that no sooner had the highway been "cleaned" than more rocks and trees would fall down on top of it from the surrounding mountains.

One such landslide killed at least 17 workers in a hydropower plant in Chungthang, with employees literally bombarded by falling boulders.

The Sikkim government has admitted that the situation in north Sikkim is worrying and "no solution is in sight in the immediate future".

Mr Tobgay says that while "roads are being totally washed away" in and around Chungthang, it will take time to re-establish communication links.

In the meantime government officials at the forefront of the relief effort have been left with no option other than to trek 30-40km (18-24 miles) to reach places like Chungthang, Lachen, Lachung and Thangu valley, all close to India's border with Tibet.

So while the government relief effort is getting off the ground - with aid workers, doctors and disaster management teams being air-dropped in some areas - the numbers are small and the need is great.

On Wednesday there were 18 helicopter sorties that carried about 40 tonnes of food packets and medical supplies.

"That by no standard is adequate for hundreds of thousands of people," a government official said.

Meanwhile in the state capital Gangtok water supplies are becoming increasingly irregular. The state government has announced that water will only be supplied on alternate days in municipal areas.

If poor sanitation and water-borne diseases become problems, hospitals in the city are already flooded with patients, most with broken limbs.

"Conditions are going from bad to worse as more patients arrive for treatment, having walked from distant villages to Gangtok," one doctor in the city told me.

With no hope in sight for the beleaguered inhabitants of north Sikkim, the Indian home minister is visiting Gangtok "to take stock of the situation".

He does not need a team of advisers to realise that the state is facing its worst crisis in recent years and that the under-powered relief effort now needs to move into top gear. (BBC)