When the Kosi turns

by Sumit Dayal

When DanChurchAid (DCA), a Danish humanitarian NGO sent me to Bihar in September 2008 to document the Kosi flood two months after the actual breach had occurred in eastern Nepal, I thought I was going to cover an aftermath story. I was wrong.

I remember my first day, driving past the bustling chaos of Saharsa town, which opened, into vast paddy fields and a pot holed highway to Madhepura. Not far ahead, makeshift camps of the displaced people started sprucing up on both sides of the highway. We drove for hours, the colorful wind battered sheets of tarpaulin covering these makeshift huts had accompanied us the whole while.

The disaster caused by Kosi floods was all about scale, expanse and numbers and it took a while for everything to sink in. I was trying to tell a visual story about modern India’s worst ever flood and I felt, with one frame, I would end up telling a quarter of the story. Therefore I used the stitched panoramic format to express situation better.

DCA is working with local partners in Bihar that is focusing in the six most vulnerable villages in Supaul District to provide post relief support to the flood affected families. With support funding from ECHO it is ensuring recovery of 2325 families with short term food security and livelihood needs including shelter and water supply.

While agricultural seeds support is already provided, interventions on Cash for work for livelihood recovery, and support to water and sanitation arrangements are now happening. On the other hand, village committees on disaster preparedness are being trained for better coping mechanisms.

Sumit Dayal On behalf of Dan Church Aid - Kosi River