DanChurchAid
India
Floods in South Asia
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| Photo: LWSI-ACT International |
In the Indian constituent state Assam people have gathered at high-lying roads in order to avoid the waters from the heavy monsoon rain which has fallen in South Asia. Villages have been washed away and fields are still under water. The water in the villages has though begun to withdraw but the thousands of displaces families are afraid of going home.
”They dare not go back because the monsoon has not finished yet, and they are afraid that their home may be flooded again,” says Sudhanshu Singh, relief coordinator from DanChurchAid in India.
Another reason is that it is easier to receive aid from the local authorities when the families are situated more centrally, Sudhanshu says over the telephone from Assam.
Need for food
Sudhanshu Singh has just finished investigating the situation in the constituent state in order to be able to address the need of the many families in distress.
”The greatest need is food. They have received food for only a couple of days from the authorities but now they have nothing left,” he says.
Many have lost everything they owned. Clothes and kitchen equipment is needed as well. In Assam food is now distributed to 2,500 families. More is on the way. In the Indian state Bihar food is distributed to 1,500 families.
The rain has temporarily stopped in India but still lots of water have not withdrawn. The danger of waterborne diseases like diarrhoea is present so precautions are taken among others by distributing tablets which can clean drinking water for bacteria.
Help to rebuild
In Bangladesh, where DanChurchAid’s Asia coordinator Jonas Nøddekær has just arrived, the water has begun to withdraw as well so that the relief work may be started.
In Kurigram, one of the poorest districts in Bangladesh in the North Eastern part of the country, the most acute aid as blankets and food has been distributed. DanChurchAid’s local partners are now investigating the possibilities for how to set people on their feet again by giving them materials for rebuilding houses.
Cleaning of drinking water is on the way as well
In the central part of Bangladesh the floods are still massive. In Manigonj, situated one and a half hours from the capital Dhaka, fields are still under water as the water from the North is running into the sea and overfloods the banks of the river, says Asia coordinator Jonas Nøddekær.
