Children who were forced to flee their villages to escape flooding in Bihar, northern India, are still homeless and living in appalling conditions.
Friday 19 September 2008
Much of the floodwater has yet to recede and in some areas, flooding has created new inland ‘seas’ up to 20km wide, according to reports from Save the Children staff in the region.
Save the Children’s Lydia Baker, who has just returned from the affected region, said: “The size of the area affected by flooding is immense. If you stand at one edge of the floodwaters, you can’t see where it ends, it feels just like you are at a coast looking out over the sea. It’s horrendous to think that under all that water are people’s homes and farmland.”
It’s been one month since the Kosi river breached its banks causing massive flooding in India’s northern Bihar province. The two districts of Madhepura and Sharsa are totally cut off with the increase in the water level. Approximately five million people, over half of them children, have been affected in 16 districts, and some villages are still completely under water.
More than 350 relief camps have been set up to house around 340,000 people but there are still thousands who haven’t made it to the camps and are living in basic shelters made from rags that they have built along highways and roads.
Save the Children is calling for more funding for this emergency to provide food and shelter to the thousands of homeless people. So far the amount that has been donated by world governments this year is less than last year, even though this year’s floods are more severe.
Save the Children is responding to the flooding and working in the relief camps of Araria, Saharsa and Khagaria. As well as giving out basic supplies of food, water and shelter equipment they are also working to protect children who may have been separated from their families by the flooding, which puts them at risk of trafficking.
“During disasters there is a severe risk of children being separated form their parents and families. This is not only extremely frightening for children, but also leaves them vulnerable to abuse and exploitation and trafficking” said Shireen Vakil Miller, Head of Policy and Advocacy at Save the Children in India.
Save the Children, in partnership with the government of Bihar, UNICEF and the Indian Red Cross have launched a family tracing programme to re-unite families separated by the floods. It will be used in all 357 relief camps to identify separated families and children, create a database of their profiles, match them and eventually reunite them.
Please make a donation to the India Floods Appeal.