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Residents at Ritchu, a village connecting Mangan with Chungthang districts, performed a ceremony on Friday to pray for everyone’s well-being and for the situation to return to normal amid the trying times. A Buddhist monk Nima Dorjee came down from Mangan to hold the ceremony and pray for peace and strength to those affected.

"In Sikkim, we pray to our ancestors. So due to the disaster, a lot of people have been affected. As per Buddhist rituals, we carry out a ceremony for our ancestors where we pray for peace and normalcy. We are also asking the almighty to give us the strength to deal with the situation," the monk said.

While on one hand people’s faith is solidly grounded hoping that the situation will return to normal soon, many are on the job to evacuate their homes and salvage the remainder of their belongings so that move to a safer place. Bonumit Lepcha, a resident of the village, has been trying to salvage her belongings but has not been successful since her house has completely been submerged under the debris. She says it sounded like a bomb had gone off when the flood hit her home.

"It seemed like a bomb had exploded and the ground started shaking
so we all rushed outside. When I saw in the morning, my house had already sunk before I could take anything out. We have been able to take out one or two important belongings and take them uphill but even there it is not safe. The ground seems to be sinking," Bonumit added.

As per reports, till October 5, 19 people, including 6 soldiers, have been killed and 103 people are missing from Mangan, Gangtok, Namchi and Pakyong districts. Over 2,400 people were evacuated from these districts till Thursday evening.

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