India 06/07

ACT Situation Report

India Floods: West Bengal, Bihar and Orissa Situation Report

October 31, 2007

The monsoon rains have stopped in the states of West Bengal, Bihar and Orissa with the onset of winter. The last rain spell was in the first week of October 2007. The flood waters have receded (except in some pockets of very low-lying areas) and people have gone back to their villages. Some people are living under polythene sheets distributed by NGOs and the government where traditional mud homes were damaged and destroyed.

Relief materials distributed by ACT member, Lutheran World Service India (LWSI), in Orissa, West Bengal and Bihar after the first phase of floods in July and August 2007 were also used by communities after the second phase of floods in September 2007. Relief support included high density polythene sheets for temporary shelter, clothing materials, blankets, bed sheets, water purification tablets, and BP-5 compact food for children and pregnant and lactating mothers. In Bihar, dry food rations were also provided comprising of roasted Bengal gram powder and iodized salt, customary to local culture. After the first phase floods, relief support was provided to 5,000 families in the Balasore district of Orissa, 2,100 families in the West Bengal district of West Midnapore and 3,500 families in the Bihar district of East Champaran.

After the final phase of the floods, LWSI is presently assisting 600 families in West Bengal district of East Midnapore and 1,500 families in the Jaleswar sub-division of the Balasore district in Orissa through the distribution of relief materials. Relief support will also be provided to another 900 families in the Sundarban areas of West Bengal. The crisis phase intervention should be completed by mid-November 2007 and will be followed by rehabilitation assistance. Other rehabilitation initiatives are also planned in the West Bengal district of West Midnapore and in the Orissa district of Balasore.

LWSI is planning to provide agricultural support to 4,000 vulnerable farmers by distributing seeds for winter crops, where standing crops and stored seeds were destroyed by the floods. Since siltation has made the cultivable land fertile after the floods, no fertilizer assistance will be required.

LWSI will be providing improved traditional house building materials to 500 vulnerable families that would have great difficulty in rebuilding their damaged homes without assistance. The technically improved materials include precast concrete pillars and corrugated, galvanized iron sheets. The families will also be supported with food grains equivalent to wages for 10 person days for reconstructing their houses with the materials provided and salvaged from their damaged houses.

Since many people working as agricultural laborers have lost their livelihoods, employment will be generated through food for work programs to restore village link roads, strengthen small embankments and repair community water tanks.

Upon receiving full funding for the ASIN72 flood appeal, construction of community flood shelters and school buildings will begin in five most geographically vulnerable villages. These multipurpose community centres would serve as emergency shelters during high floods and schools in normal times. LWSI plans and integrates community-based disaster management initiatives in all its disaster response interventions.

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Action by Churches Together (ACT) International is a global alliance of churches and related agencies working to save lives and support communities in emergencies worldwide.

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