This relief camp offers no relief to inhabitants

Thiruvananthapuram: The relief camp operating at the abandoned storage house next to the directorate of ports, Valiyathura, was the place where local fisherman Gerald breathed his last.
Gerald had lost his residence to the sea’s wrath last monsoon and was forced to live the rest of his life as a refugee at the camp which leaks all over, is infested with mosquitoes when night falls and has a single toilet which is built in a broken shack-like structure adjacent to the building. Gerald was diagnosed with intestine cancer and even during his final days, he had no other option but live it out in the storage shelter.
“When everyone was submerged neck deep in water, it was our men who braved the odds to rescue the people. Now, there is no one to help us. Now that the election and floods are over, we are sure that nobody is going to come for us anyway,” said Bridget Leen, a resident of St George Lane located at the southern side of the sea bridge. Bridget’s two storey house, which was recently painted and renovated, got damaged in sea erosion. Now they will have to shift to the storage shelter camp.
According to Vijila Kumar, who has been at the camp for past few days, no facilities have been provided by anyone to the residents of the camps.
“We have many limitations here and there are already five families staying here, with two more families set to join by Wednesday night. Here we cannot change clothes nor cook food. We can’t sleep without water falling on us from above due to the leakages on the roof and constant mosquito bites. If it does not rain, the heat is too much to bear. The ward councillor has not even once checked on us. Village officer came here and wrote down something in a book and left, but only after protest from local residents who raised the issue with the parish vicar,” Vijila said.
Geralda Benadict, one of the oldest members of the camp said that there were also instances of theft when the residents moved away from the camp. “They even stole from the cancer patient Gerald when he was here. I have been here for two years with no hope of moving out anytime soon. The camp has witnessed a death and birth as well, but luckily the family with the infant got a flat and moved out. The toilet is in a pathetic state,” she said.