India Declares Flood a 'National Calamity' By Steve Herman
New Delhi
28 August 2008
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India's prime minister on Thursday declared the flooded state of Bihar a
"national calamity" and ordered emergency relief. The official death toll is 55
but it is believed hundreds more have drowned. VOA Correspondent Steve Herman
reports from New Delhi on what is being described as possibly the worst Indian
flood in half a century.
People wade through flood waters in Hyderabad, India, 26 Aug
2008India is trying to come to grips with the worsening disaster in one of its
poorest states.
The breach of the Kosi River is now being called one of India's worst floods in
recent memory.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, accompanied by the leader of the coalition of
the governing parties, Sonia Gandhi, boarded an Air Force helicopter for an
aerial look at the soaked state. He then ordered emergency reserves of 125,000
tons of food grain poured into Bihar. The state will also receive $225 million
to help alleviate what the prime minister calls a "national calamity."
Relief camps are being established to assist those whose villages are under or
surrounded by water.
The coordinator for emergency operations in Bihar for UNICEF, the United
Nations Children's Fund, Mukesh Puri, tells VOA News more than two million
people have already been affected.
"Sanitation and availability of drinking water are going to be highly
restrained therefore there is always the possibility of water-borne diseases
and some epidemics breaking out unless disease surveillance happens and proper
health care facilities are provided, especially to the vulnerable groups like
children and women," said Puri.
The worst is not over. The Kosi River flows from Nepal where it breached its
embankments on August 18. The Kosi's swollen flow is now estimated upstream to
be more than 12 kilometers wide and the river has actually shifted to the east.
UNICEF emergency coordinator Puri says with that water flowing into Bihar - and
more heavy rain forecast - the crisis could become much more severe.
"The biggest concern is clearly that the discharge is expected to increase. In
the coming months it can double," said Puri. "Therefore the biggest threat
comes from the water which is coming from upstream. So rains will clearly make
things much worse."
Some wet and hungry villagers clinging to rooftops are sending desperate text
messages to relatives and others pleading for rescue. Others are resorting to
drinking the dirty floodwaters to survive.
West of Bihar, in the most populated Indian state, Uttar Pradesh, torrential
rains have caused several major rivers to rise above their banks. Officials say
the flooding there has killed more than 700 people. Authorities estimate that
hundreds of villages in Uttar Pradesh are completely surrounded by water.
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