Save the Children: Thousands of villages still flooded, millions still homeless one month after deluge in India’s poorest state

Save the Children logo for press releases

Monday, 22, Sep 2008 12:00

Children who were forced to flee their villages to escape flooding in Bihar, northern India, are still homeless and living in terrible conditions. 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 workgin 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.

To make a donation to Save the Children’s India Floods appeal please visit www.savethechildren.org.uk/indiafloods

ENDS

Save the Children has spokespeople available in London and India. For more information and interviews, please contact the Save the Children media unit:

In London: Shazia Khan, Media Manager (Asia) on 020 7012 6841 or email s.khan@savethechildren.org.uk

In New Delhi: Anuradha C. Maharishi on +91 9811626122 or a.maharishi@savethechildren.in

Notes to Editors:

· The International Save the Children Alliance fights for children's rights and deliver immediate and lasting improvements to children's lives. Save the Children has existed in India since pre-independence days and is currently working in 11 states and union territories of India.

· For more information about Save the Children, please visit the website: www.savethechildren.org.uk

· A report by ASTEC and UNICEF for the Department of Women and Child Development found that approximately 2,500 children were trafficked in 2007 during the flood season.