A deafening rumble burst into Gu Ji’s ears.
Everyone looked out the window, and in the gloomy sky, six large military green passenger planes were skimming over their heads. They were the Il-76 and C-17 heavy transport aircraft previously dispatched by the Central Cabinet for transporting the boat units to Assam.
Fatima pursed her lips with so excitent.
"Vidi, are these reinforcents sent by the Central Cabinet?"
"Yes, it should be the boat units arriving!"
Gu Ji raised his wrist to check the ti. It had been more than three hours since he arrived in Calcutta, but for the India disaster response teams to assemble and reach the target point in such a short ti, the response was remarkably quick.
He glanced down at the waterlogged ground.
After a day and night of continuous heavy rainfall, the water depth in parts of the city had long exceeded a ter. Don’t forget, this is India’s third-largest international tropolis, not so remote backward area like Gauhati or Dis布尔. The main reason was that Calcutta’s terrain is too low; many places used to be wetlands.
Though waterlogging affects vehicle speed, it greatly facilitates the boat unit’s movent.
Don’t forget, in Assam, 400 boats successfully and quickly transferred over ten thousand people from the train.
"Fatima, quickly have Lanate mobilize all disaster response units to the north district to coordinate with passenger and river transport, maybe we can finish the evacuation plan before the dam collapses!"
"Okay, I’ll contact them right away!"
Just as Fatima took out her phone to report, the convoy of military vehicles arrived at the north district’s slums.
Although Gu Ji had seen slums in movies before, he was still shocked by the scene in front of him.
As far as the eye could see, rows of dilapidated houses made from rusted iron sheets stood side by side, only 6 inches apart, starkly contrasting with the tall buildings in the city center. Most of these houses had two floors, separated by crude wooden planks. Neither the ground floor nor the attic had ceilings higher than 1.5 ters; occasionally, one or two brick houses could be seen.
There were almost no public sanitation facilities in the slums. Most residents had no drainage system or toilets at ho, and the garbage piled high was scattered by the torrential rain, floating on the water, forming a colorful layer that made the already narrow and crowded streets emit a strong foul sll.
The area of slums in the north district is only one-third, but nearly 4 million people live here, aning a quarter of Calcutta’s population is concentrated in this area.
What does this concept an?
It’s equivalent to a place as big as a regular bedroom cramd with 10 to 12 people, where one almost bumps into others while walking.
Yet, even so, the slums still have factories, schools, and hospitals—small but complete. Especially, the number of temples is the highest because, for these Indian poor, the three great gods of Hinduism are their only belief and hope in their miserable lives.
"Let go first!"
"Don’t crowd ! I can barely breathe!"
"Let my son get on the bus first, I beg you, he can’t walk by himself!"
"Dear police officer, here are 100 rupees, please let my child and get on the bus first. I will definitely be grateful for your help and sing praises to you every day before the Shiva Statue!"
...
At the main street intersection in the slums, tens of thousands of poor crowded here, competing for the three transfer buses arranged by the governnt. In theory, these vehicles are only provided for the elderly, weak, sick, and disabled, while the young and able-bodied are ant to walk along the safe route planned by the command center until an empty bus picks them up.
But from the north district to the central district, there is a distance of at least ten kiloters, not to ntion that the water on the ground has reached to the thighs, making it very physically demanding to walk, and as ti goes on, the risk of flooding increases. Everyone wants to reach the safe area earlier.
Therefore, many young people tried to squeeze onto the bus, and so even attempted to bribe the police.
"You cheap woman, don’t crowd with , go for other vehicles!"
"Why are you pushing when you argue!"
"Damn bitch! Get out..."
During the argunt, a couple suddenly started fighting, and the man accidentally hit soone else, imdiately sparking unrest among the crowd. The police responsible for maintaining order pulled out their batons, scolding while squeezing towards the scene of the disturbance.
Unexpectedly, just as he left the vicinity of the transfer bus, several sharp-eyed youths took advantage of the opportunity to rush into the bus.
"Get on the bus quickly!"
"Hurry! Hurry!"
"Ah!"
With soone taking the lead, the orderly line instantly turned chaotic, resembling an exploded anthill with people swarming onto the bus. The bus couldn’t bear the intense scramble and was swayed left and right by the crowd. In less than three seconds, the bus was packed with people, even the driver was pressed onto the steering wheel.
So persistent refugees simply clung to the windows, while others climbed directly onto the roof using the tires.
Seeing this, Gu Ji hurriedly instructed Marlo to fire a warning shot.
The sound of the gun firing gradually cald the chaos.
"Listen to , everyone must follow the announcents of the municipal authorities and maintain good order. Now that the support from the Central Cabinet’s boat units has arrived, everyone will safely reach the safe zone. But if you continue to be chaotic, it’ll only waste ti, and we won’t be able to help even if we want to!"
"Doctor! Doctor! Co quickly to save lives!"
Just as Gu Ji was using a loudspeaker to maintain order, a call for help ca from the west side of the crowd.
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