- Title: INDIA: Monsoon misery spreads in India
- Date: 2nd September 2008
- Summary: (W3) LUDHIANA, PUNJAB, INDIA (SEPTEMBER 2, 2008) (ANI) EXTERIOR OF LUDHIANA RAILWAY STATION
- Embargoed: 17th September 2008 17:19
- Keywords:
- Location: India
- Country: India
- Topics: Disasters / Accidents / Natural catastrophes
- Reuters ID: LVA1SPUN75F2K0FOYUAUJAAZ0000
- Aspect Ratio: 4:3
- Story Text: The Indian army steps up efforts to rescue hundreds of thousands of people marooned by floods as monsoon misery spreads in northeastern India.
Heavy rains and rising floodwaters forced hundreds of thousands of people from their homes in northeastern India as monsoon misery spread in South Asia.
In the northeastern state of Assam, heavy rains caused water levels to rise on Tuesday (September 2), affecting more than a million people and disrupting road networks for the second consecutive day.
Indian army helped evacuated Rangia villagers from their homes after Brahmaputra river continued to breach vital embankments.
In the flood affected Purnia district of Bihar, Indian authorities distributed aid to flood victims in the region on Monday (September 1).
The Indian Air Force has deployed 12 of its helicopters to distribute relief materials to the villagers and the Indian army, which had already deployed five columns of around 120 men, sent in another 14.
Three million people have been displaced from their homes and at least 90 killed by the worst floods in 50 years, officials say, after the Kosi river burst a dam in Nepal, swamping hundreds of villages in Bihar and destroying 100,000 ha (250,000 acres) of farmlands.
In Bhagalpur, another area devastated by floods, victims complained of government apathy, as they sat in their make shift relief camps set up on roadside.
Languishing under the open sky in their make shift camps the victims find little relief as they struggle with the rain and heat while sitting under a tarpaulin sheet.
Though the state administration has set up these relief camps, the flood victims complain of lack of proper facilities in these camps.
Apart from lack of proper facilities, there is also not enough food to feed so many mouths.
"We are languishing here under an open sky, facing the rains and water. There is no provision of any bedding, or any other facility to protect us from the water. If we say much, they beat us up, we are poor people, what do we do? There is nobody to listen to our woes," said Ram, a flood victim.
The waters of Kosi, known as Bihar's 'river of sorrow' for its regular floods and tendency to change course, gushed into the state inundating vast areas and affecting around two million people.
Many of those who lost their houses in Bihar have now started to migrate to northern city of Ludhiana in search of work.
"My family suffered a big loss. And now I'm here to start a new life," said Bhola Yadav, a flood victim.
Over 467,000 people have been evacuated so far, but there are thousands still marooned. Activists and local media say the death toll could be many times higher than official estimates. - Copyright Holder: ANI (India)
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