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Flooding in India: Why wasn't the
government ready?

Three million people have been displaced.
Critics call for more help from the Indian Army.

By Mark
Sappenfield | Staff writer of The Christian
Science Monitor

from the September
5, 2008 edition

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New Delhi - More than two weeks
after floodwaters inundated the impoverished lowlands of the
Indian state of Bihar, untold numbers of residents remain
perched upon their rooftops, still waiting for help to come.

An estimated 3 million people have been displaced by the
River Kosi, which is now 10 miles wide in places. The state
and central governments have struggled to cope.

Local media suggest that residents in some villages have
had to coordinate their own relief efforts, including setting
up refugee camps in college dorms. A group of prominent Indian
scholars has criticized the government as "virtually a mute
spectator" and called for relief operations to be handed to
the Army.

Monsoon floods are a yearly occurrence for India. Yet even
among experienced aid workers, there is a sense that this is
something different. "This is the mother of all floods," says
Unni Krishnan of Action Aid.

When the Kosi first broke through the embankment intended
to contain it on Aug. 18, the breach was only about 1,300-feet
long. Now it is more than a mile. Eighty percent of the river
is pouring through the gap and into some of India's poorest
districts. The strong flow of water from the Himalayas means
that engineers might not be able to plug the gap until
December.

The task of rescuing and then organizing food and shelter
for 3 million displaced people "is such that only the Army can
handle it," says Parshuram Rai, director Centre for
Environment and Food Security (CEFS) in New Delhi.

His letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh demanding that
"relief operations be launched on a war footing" was
countersigned by 49 Indian scholars and activists.

Mr. Krishnan of Action Aid, who was in Bihar until Tuesday,
agrees that only the Army has had any effect. "Wherever the
military has been deployed, it is saving lives," he says. "But
why is it taking so long? Why have so few military people been
deployed?"

Until Wednesday, the Army had 2,500 soldiers in Bihar. It
has since added 2,000 more. It has also deployed 450 boats and
six helicopters. Officials have said they hope to recover all
the stranded people within three days.
This strikes some
critics as overly optimistic. As of Sept. 1 – some 12 days
after the flooding began – 90 percent of the 3 million
displaced people remained to be rescued, according to Mr. Rai
of CEFS.

Yet even if all the displaced are recovered, the greater
task lies ahead: finding them a place to live, perhaps until
December at the earliest. The government has set up relief
centers in schools, and sent doctors and medical supplies. But
more refugees are pouring in.

“As more people are being rescued, there is a sudden influx
in the camps,” says Krishnan.

A student at Saharsa College is running a refugee camp out
of his own dorm, and villagers in Supaul district have taken
in 250 refugees who were denied admittance to a camp,
according to a report on the website of NDTV, an Indian news
channel.

It is indicative of a lack of diligence in disaster
preparedness, critics say. For example, local engineers had
sent letters to Delhi in April warning of the need to
reinforce the embankment, which is in Nepal but is maintained
by Bihar by mutual agreement. “Some of the disaster could have
been averted,” says Sarah Crowe, a spokeswoman for UNICEF in
New Delhi.

Of course, disasters lead to intense scrutiny in every
country, but given that floods come with virtually every
monsoon season, Bihar’s lack of a plan is particularly
troubling, Krishnan says.

He notes that Cuban children learn hurricane drills in
school and storm announcements are made on TV. Bihar, he
notes, has had a complete lack of information. He suggests
that the government could disseminate information by text
messages, since mobile phones are widespread even among the
poor here. and service is still intact.

Related
Stories

India's
monsoon: a time of washouts and waiting 07/20/2004

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