Highly filled with the ray of hope in the hearts and minds that missing persons will return to their homes one day from the disaster-hit areas of the State, the relatives and friends of the disaster-hit victims of Uttarakhand has been continuously displaying the names along with the coloured photographs of their loved ones in the Doon Hospital campus despite the fact that more than two months have passed since the disaster struck Uttarakhand.
It is been more than two months since disaster struck in Kedarnath (Rudraprayag), Uttarkashi and Chamoli districts of Garhwal division and Pithoragarh and Bageshwar districts of Kumaon division of Uttarakhand and thousands are still missing. Although the State Government is expected to declare them dead, hope still lives on in the families of the missing. More than 5,700 people have still not been traced after the Uttarakhand flash floods and cloudbursts. The families of the missing persons are filled with a ray of hope that one day their near and dear ones will return to their homes.
Continuing with the spirit of hope, the family members are continuously displaying the names and coloured photographs of the missing persons at the entrance gate of the emergency ward of Doon Hospital and the list has been continuously increasing day after day. Apart from the notice board displayed at the entrance gate of the emergency ward, the family members have started pasting the slip containing vital information about the missing persons at door and wall of the ward. The list displayed by the family members of the missing persons clearly highlighted that they are from Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Odisha, West Bengal, New Delhi and other neighbouring States.
Interestingly, the Doon Hospital administration is also not confiscating the list of the missing persons from the camps hoping that the family members will get clue about their relatives. However, the district administration of the two worst affected natural disaster districts are continuously trying to find out the whereabouts of the missing persons despite the fact catastrophe was witnessed two months back but the hope is still alive in the hearts and minds of the relatives of the missing persons.