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Even as he faked calmness, Dr Shakeel-ur Rahman was in turmoil as he tried to save a two-year-old girl suffering from acute diarrhoea. He needed to put her on intravenous therapy but the doctor and his staff could not locate her veins.

With time running short, he gave up, moving the kid to an ambulance to Raghopur Referral Hospital, an apology of a hospital with only six beds, where scores of patients are still lying on the barren floor.

He moved on to the next patient in the queue at the Belhi Relief Camp that has more than 50,000 occupants at the moment in the Bihar's flood-stricken Supaul district.

"The number of patients, especially those suffering from dysentery with abdominal cramps, is too much. The magnitude is more than we can handle," he says.

The receding Kosi waters-the discharge was 70,000 cusec on September 16, down from over 1.5 lakh cusec during the floods in August- have posed an epidemic threat to the displaced villagers.

Despite the river maintaining a receding trend, the Bihar authorities cannot relax because it is known to swell to peak by October. In fact, on October 5, 1968, Kosi played havoc as nine lakh cusec of water was discharged in one day alone. Forty years later, nobody has forgotten it.

Meanwhile, the Bihar Government has locked horns with the Centre over insufficient relief after the Union Home Ministry said the Rs 1,000-crore grant provided—following Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to the state on August 29—was to repair the breach and strengthen the embankment.


The Government, however, is using money for the rescue operations. Bihar officials argue that it was only about a 10th of what the state Government actually requires for the unparalleled rebuilding and rehabilitation exercise.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar met Singh in Delhi recently seeking fresh assistance of Rs 8,922 crore under a Kosi Special Package to meet the daunting challenges of rehabilitation.

Kumar also met Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, seeking his cooperation on turning the course of the river. The Nepalese premier is believed to have suggested setting up of hydel power projects to control discharge of water.

In the meantime, the flood waters accumulated for over three weeks- coupled with the fact that it contains floating human bodies and carcasses- have become just the ideal breeding ground for a number of water-borne diseases in five districts of Bihar.

Already, more than 200 cases of diarrhoea have been reported from different relief camps and hospitals of Supaul, Araria, Madhepura and Saharsa. The Government has admitted to only four diarrhoeal deaths, but social workers and locals believe the toll could be higher.

Besides diarrhoeal deaths, pregnant women who managed to reach safe lands are now left to fend for themselves without even the basic antenatal care. Dr Rahman concedes the fact that many government medical units in Bihar's flood-affected zones like Raghopur Referral Hospital do not have trained people to apply anaesthetic substances.to the affected districts and many of them are operating from 242 medical camps. A special grant will be given to every flood-affected mother giving birth in relief camps (Rs 10,000 for male child and Rs 11,000 for girl child).

Life has also changed drastically for lakhs of people. Many daily-wage earners are heading to Haryana and Punjab because employment opportunities back home seem to be over for ever. In fact, more than two lakh people have already migrated.


A frantic search is also on for those who are missing. This is also because many families, despite being otherwise eligible for an ex-gratia compensation of Rs 1.5 lakh, are faced with the daunting task of proving that those missing have indeed died.

The trouble is a law that states someone could be presumed to be dead only after being missing for seven years. So usually a death certificate, which is a pre-requisite for government compensation, is issued only after this period, in case the body of the victim is not traced.

Residents believe that this would make things difficult for relatives of those who were "swept away". Incidentally, the rescue teams have already evacuated almost a million people from the marooned villages, according to the Disaster Management Department, while only about one lakh people were left to be shifted to safe land. Officials also believe that another million people may have moved out to safe locations without any government help.

But the government figures leave one with a mathematical puzzle. One million people rescued plus one million people who moved out on their own plus one lakh still stranded just don't make it to 30.69 lakh-the number of people the state has accepted to have been affected.

On the other hand, the state Government officially accepts only 141 deaths caused by the Kosi waters. Even this figure has climbed by over 400 per cent in one week. Last week, government had declared 30 dead. The calculation, however, still leaves us with a possibility of hundreds of possible missing individuals in the aftermath of the flood.

Unending tragedy

* Flooding and stagnant water are ideal breeding conditions for mosquito vector. Overcrowding facilitates mosquito bites and transmission. As a result, outbreak of malaria and dengue is feared.
* Decaying bodies of cattle can be potent source of harmful micro-organism. Rotten food and grains from deserted homes and shops breed infection.
* Wells and drinking water sources are contaminated with polluted drinking water.
* Overcrowding and inadequate shelters lead to respiratory infections, and pose a serious threat to children.

A good three weeks later, the disaster management authorities have decided to start missing people cells in flood-affected districts. In addition to this, a toll-free number has been installed where people can get their complaints recorded about missing persons.

The official casualty figures seem too conservative given the enormity of the situation. Unofficial sources put the toll much higher. Meanwhile, with the airdropping of food packets discontinued, army boats are being used for some 70,000 odd people who have stayed put in the villages.

The worst of times seems to have brought the worst in few men. A Bihar police sub-inspector K.K. Choudhary was arrested for allegedly molesting a flood victim. Earlier, seven people were arrested on the charge of molesting women from Laxmipur village under Jankinagar police station of Purnia.

Over hundred complaints of thefts in houses abandoned by their owners due to the floods have been reported. There have been reports of unscrupulous private boatmen molesting women, who had taken shelter in their boats. But such incidents seem to have come down after the army took over the evacuation process.

Visibly alarmed, Bihar authorities have initiated steps to beef up security in the flood-affected districts. The chief minister has ordered deployment of police personnel at all relief camps.

Additional security forces have been rushed to the affected districts and more than 4,000 army personnel and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have been deployed there.

However, many victims who escaped the flood fury have suffered official apathy. So far, the state Government has shifted three district magistrates (DM), one superintendent of police (SP) and one civil surgeon for their "inept" handling of the situation arising out of the calamity.

Rajesh Kumar, who was replaced by Atish Chandra as Madhepura DM recently, was the third IAS officer to be shifted. Earlier, DMs of Saharsa and Supaul and the SP of Supaul were transferred for poor distribution of relief materials and special DMs were sent from the state headquarters to fill in for them.


Meanwhile, the political fraternity unanimously admits that this was an avoidable disaster. RJD President and Railways Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav has admitted that the floods will be an issue during the elections, while Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan has demanded an inquiry into Kosi embankment breach, alleging that the relief measures initiated by the state Government were too little and too late.

While the state Cabinet has decided to set up a judicial commission headed by a retired high court judge to inquire into the causes of the August 18 breach in the Kosi afflux bund that led to the devastating flood and to fix responsibility, the strident political voices and the acrimonious blame game between the Centre and Bihar over who turned a deaf eye to flood is yet to subside.

The politicians know that their posturing at this moment may give them an edge in at least seven Lok Sabha seats (Saharsa, Madhepura, Araria, Kishanganj, Purnia and Katihar), which are inhabited by many flood-affected people.

The continued presence of Yadav, Paswan and Kumar in the flood-ravaged districts has been conspicuous. However, the state's Water Resources Minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav, who is being blamed for his failure to repair the embankment, is believed to be the weakest link in Kumar's camp.

The victims, however, need more. There are bigger questions of how and when will the mighty river be embanked once again. Till this is done, the victims will be destined to live in the belly of the river.





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