After losing everything, survivors head home

After losing their loved ones to the criminal negligence of a builder, they are heading back home.

Left with almost nothing but the clothes on their bodies, more than 70 persons, including survivors and the kin of those who lost their lives after a seven storey building collapsed in east Delhi's Lalita Park area on Monday night, have returned to their homes in the last two days.

"What will we do here now? More than 13 people of my family were injured during the incident. Three of them died. There's nothing to stay back for," said Arjun Biswas from Murshidabad, who was away from his home when the ill-fated structure collapsed.

The Delhi government is helping the survivors not only by booking special coaches bound to their home states, but also providing them with psychological counselling.

"Those involved need all the help they can get. Keeping the magnitude of the tragedy in mind, we arranged special counselling sessions for them at IBHAS,” said a senior official from the state health ministry.

Officials associated with the rehabilitation effort said that counselling was necessary.

"These persons have been through tremendous strain which can be attributed both to their witnessing the tragedy per se and specially to the ordeal of identifying the crushed bodies of their loved ones. Six bodies are yet to be identified — it is possible that their kin are in denial of their death," said Kiran Walia, State Health Minister.

While 40 persons were dispatched in a special coach going through various districts of Bihar on Friday, 29 persons were transported on Saturday. Most of 70 persons who lost their lives or injured belong to Bihar's Katihar district.