Bihar Flood Victims Struggle to Survive

Added: September 13th, 2008

People who survived devastating floods in eastern India continue to live in makeshift tent camps in India's eastern Bihar state. They are struggling to get food and meet other bare necessities. Authorities promise to undertake relief efforts to better the welfare of three million displaced flood victims.

STORY:
Authorities battling the floods in eastern India ordered a probe today to determine whether negligence contributed to the disaster.

More than 100 people died of drowning and disease in the state of Bihar, and anger is mounting amongst flood victims who set up makeshift tent camps along road sides.

Today some of the displaced people complain of hunger stemming from meager food supplies and lack of safe drinking water.

Flood victim Pavo Devi says she wasn't aware of any relief camps run by the provincial government.

[Pavo Devi, Flood Victim]:
"We don't know about the relief camps. Nobody has told us anything about them. We are languishing here under the sun, with nothing to eat. People visit us but do little to help us. Our children are dying of hunger. We are on roadside where vehicles come and go, what if the children get crushed under them? We have lost everything in the floods. All our clothes, belongings were washed away in the floods. There is nobody to help us."

On Thursday the chief of Bihar state conducted an aerial survey of the flood affected areas in the state.

[Nitish Kumar, Bihar State Chief]:
"I want to assure everyone that rehabilitation and reconstruction work will be undertaken and the new construction would be better than before. Assistance will be provided for resuming agriculture, new houses will be constructed, and roads, agricultural land, and schools everything will be taken care of. Everything will be better than before, it is for sure."

The floods in Bihar erupted after the Kosi river burst a dam in Nepal, swamping hundreds of villages and destroying 250,000 acres of farmlands downstream.