Intervention For Flood

PLAN OF ACTION FOR INTERVENTION IN NORTH BIHAR A PROPOSAL SUBMITTED BY

DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL WORK UNIVERSITY OF DELHI On 27th August 2008 {For urgent consideration}

About the Situation in Bihar

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The floods in Bihar continued unabated with the Kosi River wreaking havoc in northern districts of Supaul, Madhepura and Arari. The state government's relief operation continued to be tentative and lack of will as well as personnel is evident to the dismay of many who do not even have access to the channels of complaints and expressions of anguish. In a situation where more than eight districts have been badly affected, 30 relief camps set up by the state is not able to meet the severity of the crisis. A report from Madhepura in particular informs us that the blocks such as Kumarkhand, Muraliganj, Shankerpur, Udakishunganj, Alamnagar, Chausa, Puraini and Gwalpara have been completely cut off from the District head quarter. Even conservative estimates put the total affected population as nearly 20-25 lakhs. Death is impossibly difficult to estimate as it depends on the bodies recovered from the violent pangs of River Kosi. Train services between Purnia and Madhepura have been suspended indefinitely due to water-logging on tracks at several places and railway line washed away in a stretch of about 45 ft near Dinapatti.With the flood situation turning grim in Bihar, the state government today sought the Army's help to launch relief and rescue operations in the severely affected districts. While one Army unit which arrived today has been rushed to Madhepura district, two more units will arrive soon and take up rescue work. Over one million people in 14 districts across the state have been displaced by flash floods after the Kosi River breached its embankments in neighbouring Nepal and their number is swelling with each passing day. Given the fact the Kosi has a track record of flowing in excess of 9 lakh cusecs; the Bihar government is indeed worried that a monumental effort will have to be put in to rescue the people. “We will have to rescue more than 10 lakh people in relief camps. And we will have to keep them for more than 6 months as it will take time to plug the breach. More significantly, the flow of the Kosi will have to shift to its original course and all this will take time,” the chief minister said.

PROPOSED PALN OF ACTION WITH REGARD TO THE SITUATION IN BIHAR Following the desk review of the situation in Northern Bihar as also through the information available from the state and district administration, the Department of Social Work, University of Delhi has come out with the following plan of action for intervention in the flood ravaged areas of North Bihar. In view of the severity and the magnitude of the problem, the department realizes that post-rescue interventions can be made at four levels and that too in collaboration with civil society organization organizations based in Delhi as well as Patna: 1. Reaching out to affected families and individuals in one of the worst

affected districts such as Madhepura/Purnea/Araria 2. Helping them with necessary and scarce items such as-packed food, medicines, chlorine tablets, torches, mosquito-nets/repellant, plastic sheets(tarpaulin ones) etc. 3. We also propose to liaison and working with government and nongovernment agencies 4. We also aim to focus especially on Dalits, Muslims and Extreme backward class communities as their vulnerability is relatively high compared to other caste and communities in the same region. In fact we aim to have an approximate engagement of fifteen-twenty days (tentatively) in this part through the following pattern and the department shall intend having a long term engagement more or less on the model of UDAI Project of DSSW and Sneha Samudaya of Jamia Millia IslamiaAction Aid India. and there too identify the vulnerable locations and populations 2. Development of base and network with government and nongovernment agencies(for facilitating relief and rehabilitation packages and measures) 3. The impromptu relief camps need better trained staff in the initial phase and professional social workers can have a better impact on coordination

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1. Identification of an area(we might focus on a cluster of villages alone)

4. Taking a team of twenty students with at least three faculty members

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which shall liaison and network with the district administration ensuring coordination and cooperation from different government departments as well as NGOs. 5. We also realise that sanitation will be a major problem for these areas as most of the people are residing on the impromptu found cluttered spaces. Temporary toilets are required to keep the environment clean, which will help in controlling the spread of epidemic. We intend to liaison and work with organisation based in Delhi as well as the ones working locally. 6. Ready to eat food is more suitable for these areas as availability of fuel will be a problem. 7. We are also informed that ORS packets are not adequate for the affected areas. There is a need of bleaching powders, lime and halogen tablets immediately for the affected districts, blocks and villages.

Proposed budget (tentative)

2 3 3 4 5 6

Item

Unit cost

Purchase of 1000(one thousand only) torch 1000 Dry Milk Powder packets Purchase of 5000 ORS sachets 10, 000 match boxes

125/-

7

5000 candles Chlorine tablets 2000/500 bundles Rope(nylon) Tarpaulin Sheets

8

Sleepers

9

Biscuits

10

Purchase of eatables and local consumable items Travel of twenty two people @400/- to and fro Two vehicles(jeep) for Local travel

11 12 Total 13

Total Miscellaneous

Total

From item 1 to 12+13

75/- per pouch

Total cost(all in Rupees) 125X1000=1,25,0 00/75,000/-

10/-per sachet

50000/-

1 rupees per packet 1 rs. Per unit @Rs. 1 50 per bundle

10,000/5000/2000/25,000/-

7000 metres 105,000/@15 Rs. 250 pairs in the 12,500/size of 5,6,7, and 8 @50/rupees 5000 packets 25,000/@5 100000/400X20X2

16,000/-

@1800/- per 72,000/day for 20 days i.e. 20X1800X2 6,22,500/10% of the 62,225 total of item 1 to 11 6,84,725/-

In addition, the following items are also needed: 1. Mosquito repellent/coil 2. Umbrellas

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