On the night of May 9, Shweta was struggling to sleep.
“I stayed up and watched the news. There was so much tension about bombardments going on in this region,” she said.
Shweta and her family live in Rehari Colony in Jammu, which is now at the heart of escalations between India and Pakistan. In the early hours of May 10, several houses and vehicles were damaged as Pakistan targeted parts of Jammu city, a day after India foiled Pakistan’s attempts to hit military installations using missiles and drones.
At approximately 5.30 am, a diffused Pakistani shell hit Rehari Colony, causing panic among residents.
“The whole house shook. I started screaming and asking everyone to get out,” Shweta said. She ran to find her husband, who was sleeping in another room with his elderly mother. But when she got there, she was horrified to find that he was unable to get up.
“He told me that he has been hit by something. He was bleeding heavily from his leg,” she said. “While we were trying to drag him downstairs, he fainted.”
Shweta called an ambulance that took her husband to the Jammu district hospital, located about a kilometre away. His wound was stitched and he’s currently waiting to get discharged. The family’s house, meanwhile, suffered damage. “The compound, grills, windows and top-floor air conditioners are all destroyed,” she said.
Ever since the government issued precautionary advisories to people in Jammu, many who live in multi-storey homes have shifted to their basement. This includes Rudraksh Chaddha and his cousin Uday, who live next door to Shweta and have been sleeping in the basement for the last two days.
Yesterday, however, “we thought we’ll go back and sleep in our usual rooms,” said Rudraksh. But in the early hours of May 10, they woke up to a loud bang. Rudraksh realised parts of his ceiling had collapsed.
“My uncle suffered a head injury from the debris that fell on him. He’s currently at the hospital with my relatives,” Rudraksh said.
Uday also suffered minor injuries on his legs and hands. “For a second, I thought I was going to die.”
Also in Rehari Colony, Gulshan and his family of eight, which includes two children aged three and 10, have been sleeping in the basement of their two-storey house for the past week. Gulshan said he’s glad they took that call.
“Our water tank has been damaged. All the windows on the top floor have entirely shattered and there’s damage on the walls too,” he said. “Thankfully we had decided to shift to the basement after the government issued an advisory last week.”
‘We need help from the government’
Residents who aren’t originally from Jammu told Newslaundry and The News Minute that they’re making arrangements to leave the state altogether.
Amit Garg moved to Jammu four years ago from Uttar Pradesh’s Aligarh for a job at Hindustan Unilever. He said his vehicle was damaged this morning when a big piece of the diffused shell fell on its roof. “The National Disaster Response Force came and took it for assignment within a few hours,” he said.
Garg swiftly made his decision to leave with his family. “My company has made arrangements. I am packing and leaving this place in two hours.”
At around 9 am, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah visited the colony and nearby areas to assess the damage. While he was inspecting one of the houses, sirens began blaring. We saw smoke pillars in the sky and people around us began shouting and running in panic. The J&K police soon arrived and asked residents to move indoors and stay put.
Gulshan, who’s lived here for the last 30 years, said he’s “never seen anything like this in his life”.
Shweta, who is still waiting for her husband to come back home from the hospital, said, “We are very scared. Jammu is not safe. We need help from the government. Where do we go? This is our home.”
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