By IANS,
New Delhi: Action Aid India, a non-government organisation whose members visited quake-hit Sikkim recently, has said there is need for immediate intervention as basic support is yet to reach some communities.
Banamallika Choudhury, Guwahati programme officer at Action Aid, called the present condition an ‘ongoing crisis’.
“There is need for immediate intervention as some of the communities are yet to be reached with basic support,” she said. “The extensive damage is also likely to create long-term livelihood scarcity and, hence, food security challenges.”
She added that to cater to the immediate needs of the quake victims, the organisation is supplying temporary shelter materials, sleeping mats, torch, candles and water purifying tablets.
At least 78 people died in Sikkim after a 6.8-magnitude earthquake Sep 18 rocked large parts of north, east and northeastern India and neighbouring Bangladesh and Nepal.
Road links to Sikkim and the rest of the country remained snapped, with the lifeline to Sikkim, National Highway 31 A, blocked by landslides at seven different locations.
Twenty-five road bridges on the highway connecting Siliguri in West Bengal with Gangtok developed cracks after the tremors.