Bihar on the edge: 2 million people may need to be evacuated

(Bold mine)


Full story HERE

Must be that time of the month for Mother Nature.

Ye gods...

My wife said something about bad news, I thought she was talking about Kashmir and carried on making the tea.

The Kosi river breaching the barrage in Nepal started happening ten days ago. Flooding started soon thereafter.

It is telling that this calamity is starting to get media attention in India only now.


Slotted below the latest bollywood blockbuster on at least one major news channel, as far as I could see today


Edit: quick google, may be better sources out there

http://news.oneindia.in/2008/08/19/b...219127460.html

The times of India has been covering it for a few days now... infact . all credit given , they had a massive editorial on it..not the front page , but 3-4th i think..

Yes they did. But the fact that 2 million are going to be homeless (many already are) and that this may be a permanent change of course for the river is ignored.

I read in the paper that Locals have been resisting relocation and they did not want to leave their homes. But finally they have come to terms with the gravity of situation and have agreed to be relocated.

The Chief Minister has said, publicly, that they should accept their losses and run.

Two million. Thats probably half the population of many small/sparsely populated European countries.

It is a very serious calamity of great magnitude and most news sites have been covering it for a few days now. The worst part about floods are the epidemics that come later.

There are so many terrible events taking place in India now, as an ordinary person one cannot do anything to alleviate the situation.

The word 'relocation' worries me.

All too often, a couple of years later, it becomes obvious that governments are apt to forget that it includes not only leaving a place, but also being provided with somewhere else to live.

Of course the Tsunami does not get into the news much these days, but, every few months, the fact that some group of people are still awaiting long-promised housing does.

Yes Nick, you are right.

Even now in Maharashtra, every now and then one comes across a few cases of the Latur earthquake affected people not having got their houses.

the shifting river



nature reminds us who is boss...




please dont call it a flood...



the army is called



:brishti

<< note to mods: please move this to another thread if so required... but talking of rivers and calamity... i post it here >>>

this time it aint nature...

and more to go if you want to keep reading...


this is the ps part of the post!



:brishti

Just before watching this on NDTV news - it's an appalling story. Now saying 35 lakh people are to be re-located from 15 affected districts. Deaths so far are 55, which is amazingly low really for the extent of the flooding (I'm thinking of the floods 2 years back in Barmer district where deaths were far more due to villagers having no knowledge of the sudden water rising). The breach in the barrage to the Kosi river is now 1.5km long and it is still raining.
Nepal is also badly affected. A terrible calamity.

Its one of the biggest natural disaster this Country has faced.

Can we do something from India Mike in terms of contribution at this time.

Any suggestions!