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Four years after Uttarakhand tragedy: Eight psychiatrists for over 1 crore people, many fighting mental trauma -Kavita Upadhyay
-The Indian Express

Four years after the tragedy, The Indian Express visited at least 15 disaster-hit villages and towns near Kedarnath, where a majority of the population lives under severe psychological trauma. What makes it worse is the near breakdown of the state’s mental health infrastructure.

Kalimath Valley (Gaurikund): On June 12, the search for 23-year-old Prahlad Singh ended. Villagers found him tightening a rope around his neck. “He was about to kill himself,” says Prahlad’s mother Rajeshwari Devi. That day, he had run away from home, like on many occasions since the day four years ago, when Prahlad, who worked as a porter at the Kedarnath shrine, witnessed death up close.

On June 16, 2013, Prahlad was at the shrine, 87 km from his village Raulek in Rudraprayag district’s Ukhimath tehsil, when the “Himalayan tsunami” struck.

“While he was trying to escape Kedarnath Valley, he saw several bodies strewn across,” says Rajeshwari, talking about how her son never quite recovered from the trauma of the deluge that killed thousands and caused extensive damage to property. Many such as Prahald, considered “lucky to have survived”, continue to live with mental scars that refuse to heal.

Four years after the tragedy, The Indian Express visited at least 15 disaster-hit villages and towns near Kedarnath, where a majority of the population lives under severe psychological trauma. What makes it worse is the near breakdown of the state’s mental health infrastructure.

B S Rawat, Joint Director (non-communicable diseases), admits there is a huge shortage of mental health specialists in the state. “Currently, for a population of over 1 crore, there are only eight psychiatrists in government hospitals across the state. It’s a job not many want to take up in Uttarakhand, perhaps due to the state’s difficult terrain,” he says.

Prahlad’s family had to travel 260 km from his village to Dehradun to go to a doctor and understand why he wasn’t the same since the disaster. His medical report, issued by a private clinic in Dehradun, reads that he “is suffering from schizophrenia, a major mental disorder… triggered by the Himalayan Tsunami”. With the frequent trips to Dehradun stretching their finances, Prahlad’s mother says she often takes him to an exorcist.

A year after Om Prakash Uniyal’s shops and hotel in Gaurikund got washed away in the Mandakini, the 40-year-old killed himself. “He (Om) would stay quiet. He was probably suffering from depression, but didn’t tell us anything. One day (in September 2014), he drank poison,” says Uniyal’s younger brother Prem Prakash, holding back tears.

Rajni Devi from Sirvani hamlet in Ukhimath tehsil, who lost her two sons in the disaster, says she has difficulty sleeping. “I also feel very anxious every time there’s thunder and lightning outside, or if there’s heavy rainfall,” she says.

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