Bihar flood survivors battling despair
"Why aren't officials doing anything?" asks a pale looking teenager, flanked by his 70-year-old father and 50-year-old mother.
Kishore Sarna has desperation in his voice. He has been waiting for over two weeks for news about 15 members of his joint family. He is one of about thousand people taking shelter in Kanya Mahavidyalay, a girls' college in the Saharsa District of the flood ravaged north Indian state of Bihar.
"I was not in my village when the floodwater took our village. I rushed to reach there, but I have been stuck here with ailing parents," he mutters, as a crowd gathers in the pitch dark compound of the college hoping for information on people left behind.
Waiting for help
"There are at least 10,000 people waiting on high grounds, trees and machans (raised bamboo platforms)," says Kishore's father who used to own a bicycle repair shop in Madhepura.
"Can you get my children out of water? There are three of them," says Jadan Sarna, barely able to stand the frequent stomach cramps he has been having.
"20 kilos rice, 3 liters cooking oil, and two sacks of corn" he keeps ranting a list of what he has lost along with the shop.
Kishore's parents were returning from a pilgrimage to Allahabad to his brothers when the deluge happened.
No amenities
Groups of men and young children moved in the dark without electricity in the camp that has been set-up by a student group.
"Not just electricity, we also need cooking gas cylinders, water supply and toilets," says Pran Mohan Jha, who heads the management of this civilian camp.
"See more people are coming, with young children," he says pointing to a family of four registering for place in the shelter.
"We have asked local officials for help, but in vain," he laments and adds "women are forced to go outside the compound for toilet needs as we do not have functional facility here."
Banking on community for resources
"We go around the homes nearby and collect food items. Since we do not get any support from the administration we have to appeal to the consciences of people who can spare resources," adds Pradip Kumar, one of the young men who run the shelter.
The residents, who complain of diarrhoea, have not seen any visit by health officials.
"We take people to a private nursing home nearby. They have not been charging so far," adds Jha.
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
An aerial view of floods caused by Tropical Storm Hanna is seen in Gonaives September 3, 2008. Haiti's civil protection office said 37 of the 90 Hanna-related deaths had occurred in ...
