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Field report: Bihar, India

South Asia Program Director Nimmi Gowrinathan Travels to Flood-Ravaged Bihar, India

South Asia program director Nimmi Gowrinathan travelled to flood-ravaged Bihar, India to survey the impact that this disaster has had on the region. Operation USA will work with local partners to strenghten educational and medical resources in the area.

In rural areas in South Asia when a natural disaster strikes, there seems to be a similar chronology of events and corresponding emotions. The late summer Kosi River Floods in Nepal and Bihar were no exception.

August 18th, 2008. Curiosity: Before the devastation, the earliest warning system that villagers in remote areas have is via the traditional and unreliable route of word of mouth. Someone has seen the embankment on the Kosi River collapsing as trees begin to be pulled into the rising waters. The men in the village gather as they do when any news of something extraordinary happening reaches them. Footage taken by a local journalist records voices: amazed, scared, awed by the power of the water to disintegrate a concrete bridge.

August 18th - 21st. Panic: As the imminent danger to loved ones and personal property becomes hard to ignore, the process of displacement begins. Women balance personal belongings in baskets on their heads, holding up their saris as they wade through the rising flood waters. Children huddled under makeshift shelters watch the soil slip away under heavy rains. Some of the thousands on foot will end up in an army-administered "mega camp", others will join the already crowded homes of relatives in adjoining districts. Schools and temples built with "paka" (strong) materials become spaces of refuge in completely submerged villages.

August 22nd. Confusion: As the flood waters settle across five districts, questions begin to fill the sudden quiet. As per the 1954 Indo-Nepal treaty, maintenance of the 22-km embankment is the responsibility of the Indian government. Why were the funds allocated annually to repair the embankment not utilized for that purpose prior to the monsoon rains this year? If the state was aware that the signs of a breach were evident as early as August 5th, and received confirmation of a serious breach on August 18th why did hundreds of unwarned villagers lose their lives while hundreds of thousands more lost their homes and livelihoods?

September. Government Response: The federal government declares the area a national disaster zone. Questions go unasked and unanswered as the army is greeted with a mixture of fear and relief. Food rations for a few days are provided, temporary structures erected, crimes are prevented. 2,250 Rupees (USD $50) is allocated per family. In November these funds are in the process of being distributed?.

October, November. Waiting: As it becomes obvious that government support is inadequate and inconsistent, communities begin to work together to rebuild. One wealthy family in an affected village houses 500 people in his home. Tribal villages became integrated with traditional Hindu villages as they pool resources to re-build. They answer the questions of foreign NGO workers with as much suspicion as hope. Each wants you to see the remains of their house, indicate on their own bodies the water levels - details that shrink the magnitude of this disaster to one person, one home. Most days they wait. Wait for a small boat to take them across a less than 1km stretch of water between stretches of road, wait behind trucks loaded with bricks to unload as men work late into the night, wait for the basic rations that must be brought via truck, boat, and motorcycle.

Working in disaster-affected communities around the world, Operation USA has found that using livelihood support as a centerpiece for rehabilitation can most effectively lead to a self-sustaining return to normalcy. Sitting amongst a crowd of villagers one young girl, Vishaka, stood up to tell me about her school that had been damaged, her mother who had gotten ill, her father who could not earn an income in agriculture. As survival becomes paramount, and children and parents become separated post-disaster young girls like Vishaka in this region become ideal candidates for child labor and child trafficking. Working with local grassroots partners, Operation USA will provide support for a Child Labor Rehabilitation School in the Madhepurai District of Bihar, a livelihood support program for the parents of children in the school, and support for local medical clinics overburdened with increased patients suffering from diarrhea, anemia, and malaria.

One local Bihari pointed out that "in Bihar, even the poorest man smiles". Smiling, Biharis asked us our opinion of everything from the local sweets to the décor of their homes. Overlooked by both the federal and state government, for centuries, these men, women and children have born the burdens of poverty, caste, and disaster. Driving through the countryside on the long return to Patna, it seemed the only possible opinion was to have a great deal of respect for the strength, tenacity, and grace with which these communities have always faced challenges...even one as great as rebuilding their lives after this latest natural disaster.