Patna: The continuing spate of floods has brought untold miseries to the people in Bihar. Even as authorities battle hard to evacuate villagers trapped in their flooded homes and move them to relief camps, residents are unsure the new shelter will prove safe.
In Katihar district, the relief camp for flood victims was inundated by rising floodwaters. Some 1,000 victims were lodged at the site and the administration’s challenge now is how and where to move the villagers when water is flooding a new area every day.
“It’s indeed a big challenge for us to shift all the flood victims from a flood relief camp to safer places. We are really finding [it] hard to manage this when floods are inundating new area[s],” government official Kamal Nayan Kashyap told media on Friday.
He said flood victims say they are tired of being moved from one camp to another. “But it’s not possible for us run a relief camp at an inundated place,” said Aditya Kumar Singh, a schoolteacher in charge of the camp.
Similar trouble arose in neighbouring Kishanganj and Supaul districts where some 200 relief camps set by the administration were flooded owing to a sudden deluge, prompting authorities to move the camps to higher places.
The situation has gotten worse with rivers breaching their mud embankments at regular intervals in the state.
“The government has faced many floods in the past including the 2008 Kisi disaster but this time around, it is a real challenge,” said Bihar disaster management department’s principal secretary, Pratyaya Amrit.
Floods have ravaged half of the state and authorities say they don’t hope for relief for at least another one week in view of prediction of a good to heavy shower. As per the latest official report, floods have affected a total population of 9.82 million settled in 139 blocks across 16 districts of Bihar. Floods have killed 119 people so far while the unofficial figure put the toll to more than 230.
So far, 408,903 people have been evacuated by various rescue teams and lodged in 1,238 relief camps.
