Hundreds of people, homeless after a fire ravaged rows of shanties in Topsia on Friday, spent Saturday scouring through ashes looking for whatever they could retrieve.

Men in groups returned to the charred remains of their houses and ran fingers through layers of ashes and burnt items looking for some of the valuables they couldn’t retrieve on Friday afternoon when the fire broke out.

Over 100 shanties were gutted on Dr BN Dey Road, adjacent to EM Bypass.

Eighteen fire tenders brought the fire under control in about three hours

Several residents said they had lost everything — clothes, television sets, boxes, drums with food grain, identity cards and cash.

What remained were charred bamboo structures, homes to several hundred, once.

“I have lost around ₹50,000 that we had collected for my daughter’s wedding. It’s scheduled for January 12. That amount is gone,” said Nazda Bewa. “Not just me. The fire has walloped almost everyone living here.”

Distraught and displaced, most women spent the night with their children at local schools and clubs in Topisia. Those who had relatives nearby moved in with them.

The state administration arranged food for the victims.

Police and other officials distributed tarpaulins to cover portions of the charred structures that remained on the fire-hit houses and blankets.

The tarpaulins came in handy for some who sought shelter from the night-long drizzle.

“The men have been trying to find items they can recover from the ashes and sell them to make money to last us for the next few days. The cupboards, shelves, beds, and mattresses have been reduced to ashes,” said Asma Bibi.

“Javed (Ahmed) Khan (local MLA and disaster management minister) has assured us that the houses would be rebuilt.”

Youths in the area split into groups and joined the state machinery in reaching out to the victims throughout Friday night till the better part of Saturday.

“Around 30 youths stayed up through the night to ensure some of the items that could be retrieved were not stolen. They also saw to it that every family received blankets, food and water,” said Basir Ahmed, a resident.

By evening, while women were asked to return to the schools where they spent Friday night, one member from each family was asked to stay back and see to it that the house — or whatever remained — was adequately covered with tarpaulin sheets.

“We will draw up a list of families affected by the fire and the state government will reach out to them so that houses can be rebuilt at the earliest,” Khan, the minister, said.