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Helping flood victims in Bihar, IndiaRe-housing those who lost everything in the Bihar Floods The Bihar region of India has experienced its worst floods for 50 years due to the Kosi River breaching its man-made embankments in mid-August 2008. The river abandoned its prescribed western channel spreading out widely and inundating towns, villages and cultivated fields. 19 districts across Bihar were affected with Supaul, Madhepura and Araria the worst hit areas. The lives of over 4 million people were affected by the flooding with at least 2 million being displaced, hundreds of deaths and over 150,000 hectares of crops destroyed. The government of India has declared the flooding as a national emergency. As the affected areas are not traditionally flood-prone, communities and the local administration were not adequately equipped to deal with floods. Relief camps were established by the district administration. While some are slowly returning to their villages many are still living in the cramped displacement camps even though it is 2 months after the flood; waiting for waters to subside before they return to their traditional villages and homes. Some of the male members of the families have migrated to Delhi or Patna etc. to work as casual labour or find other waged opportunities. A small team from cbm’s partner NBJK and its network of volunteers has been camping in the flood-affected blocks of Supaul district since early September 2000; being amongst the first external agencies to visit the villages in Chaatapur block to take stock of the situation and conduct on-site assessments. Amongst their relief activities was the provision of food and non food items to over 1000 families. cbm has now started a project that aims to meet the critical shelter needs of the most vulnerable families with disabled family members and women at risk, once they are able to return to their home areas. With specially designed houses, built in consultation with the local community, engineering experts and disability specialists, cbm will help protect persons with disability should such a disaster occur in the future. |
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