Present status of Appeal
ASIN34 comprising emergency relief proposals for the most vulnerable
flood affected in Orissa was issued on 12 September 2003. To date,
of the US$ 1,098,997 target, only US$ 154,024 (14%) has been received
- Churches Auxiliary for Social Action (CASA) has received
94% funding while the United Evangelical Church of India (UELCI)
and the Lutheran World Service India (LWS-I) only 4 % and
5% respectively. The low funding received to date for the UELCI and
LWS-I projects is seriously hampering the timeliness and effectiveness
of even the most immediate relief response.
We urgently request our donors to reconsider and allocate funding
towards this appeal.
Situation Report from LWS-I
ACT member the Lutheran World Service India (LWS-I) reports that
in the district of Balangir people cannot recall rains of such magnitude
for at least 20 years. This year’s rains have been exceptionally heavy
– with up to 316 mm in six hours recorded. Totally unprepared for
such a deluge the people have suffered tremendous loss of property
as well as crops. There has been a recorded loss of up to 80% of Gurji
, a traditional crop grown in the highlands with the remaining 20%
reportedly of very low quality due to it being rain-soaked. Vegetables
and early varieties of highland paddy also fell victim to the flood
waters and a significant area of cultivated land has been sand casted.
Fruit saplings and other delicate plants were also affected. Most
of the mud-built houses collapsed as they could not withstand the
incessant rainfall and road communication between villages/towns has
been seriously disrupted.
In the most recent years the resource poor/marginal farmers have
experienced drought and have been forced to "loan" paddy from Self
Help Group (SHG) run grain banks or from other sources for use as
seeds as they had been compelled to eat up the preceding year’s sock
of seeds. The drought conditions in 2002 led to almost a total crop
failure resulting in the marginalised farmers even becoming indebted
to the private moneylenders (due to crop failure the recovery of grains
in SHG-managed grain banks was very insignificant). The normal level
of recovery and recycling of group/community funds and grain banks
are affected in general.
The unprecedented deluge has further exacerbated the situation, pushing
the most vulnerable of the population to a very precarious situation.
Unlike the coastal belt, where flooding is both a boon and a bane
for the farmers as they benefit from the depositing of fertile soils
in the following years, flooding in this area takes away the vital
top soils which adversely affects the yield in the following years.
Moreover, this year, due to good, though delayed showers, most of
the farmers did not take the precaution of insuring their crops. As
the rain continued for an unusually long period the standing paddy
crop became weak succumbing to pests and insects. Fish in the fish
ponds were swept away in the outflow of excess water. Embankments
of most water storage ponds (some of these were constructed using
LWSI drought relief under ASIN 24) were breached and ridges protecting
cultivated land were washed away resulting in the loss of precious
water and top soils for future cultivation.
Now the vulnerable marginal farmers have no resources
and the main concern for them is how to survive until the harvesting
of the remaining main kharif crop. Labour migration is one option
that is taken by many during difficult times.
Overview of damage in Balangir District
