PERAMBRA: If there's one emotion that's written large on the faces of the people of Perambra, it is FEAR. For, more and more people are succumbing to the deadly Nipah virus - the latest being a nurse who treated the first victim of the viral infection. The question uppermost in their minds is: Who's next? A question that has no concrete answer. Suddenly,life isn't safe anymore.
The Express team which went to the locality found the people so tensed many even used the roads wearing a protective face mask to avoid being infected by the virus. The situation is worse in Chengaroth where the disease was first reported. Many families in and around the region, neighbours of Sabith who succumbed to the virus, have vacated their houses for fear of getting infected. Those who stay back are confined to their houses. Not a single child was seen playing in the open.
Mohammed Salman, a Class XI student, who was out on the streets with his friends said they are scared. “We do not know much about the disease. We read it in the newspapers. It is said there is no cure for this scourge. The situation is scary.''
The anxiety of the people was evident when a couple of jeeps of the government departments arrived in the region. Many assembled to hear from them. ''We are yet to cope with this mentally,'' said Abdul Razzack, Sabith's neighbour.
“I'm scared. I haven't yet visited the house of Sabith and Swalih who've succumbed to the disease. Some say bats spread the virus. There are hundreds of them in the region. What will we do? We are deeply concerned,” he said.
“Sabith and Swalih had recently bought land near here and were constructing a house. It is yet to be completed. It is sad they are no more,” C K Moithu, their neighbour said. ''We wanted to go for their funeral. We didn't go as we didn't have the guts. We were scared stiff.
Nobody was even willing to lift the body from the ambulance and carry it to the cemetery. Everything was done by the relatives of the deceased and a few youths. Almost everyone kept away,'' Moithu said.
We found men out on the roads. Not the women. The roads to the house of the victims are empty and all the houses along the sides of the roads are closed. Some houses have been locked up. The eerie silence was disturbing. It seemed there was fear even in a handful of dust.