Hanu Flood Relief – Helping People Rebuild
Hanu is home to around 100 Drokpa families. These amazing people are descended from an Aryan tribe that moved into Western Ladakh from the Hindukush region of Pakistan many centuries ago. A horrific flash flood on August the 6th 2010 hit this village in the dead of the night and totally destroyed 25 houses and killed two people.
In October 2010 World Horizons Operations Director SB Gurung visited with a team to donate much needed blankets and food before the onset of winter. During this visit he discovered a community in need of assistance to rebuild their shattered lives. In May 2011, during a meeting with World Horizons Matthew Swait, he suggested assisting the people of Hanu rebuild by supplying each of the 25 families who’d lost their homes with two windows, a door, steal rio-rods and six bags of cement. For most of these families such items were unaffordable and without them reconstructing their homes impossible.
CETOP then decided to get behind the idea and started raising funds to get the project off the ground as soon as possible before the harsh winter set in, when temperatures can fall to minus 30 degrees.
So the go ahead was given to order the wood and other materials to be trucked to Leh from Srinagar. The most time consuming part of this project was making the 50 windows and 25 doors by a team of three carpenters from the Punjab who were brought to Leh for the job. It took them two months to finish the job. On 8th of September 2011 everything was finished and trucked to Hanu.
On the 9th of September CETOP President Renate Carius and World Horizons SB Gurung were their to pass on the materials to a very appreciative Hanu community. The doors, windows, cement and rio-rods were laid out for all to see and then a list of the families read out so each could come forward to receive their much needed building supplies.
CETOP and the Cranbrook Senior School visited Hanu in July 2012. Here the group was able to see firsthand what it meant to help these people retrieve the dignity of once again having a home to live in. While in Hanu the group also donated much needed books and stationery tp the local school as well as touring the village and meeting a very appreciative community.