Hundreds of dedicated volunteers with the Indian Red Cross Society (IRCS) are supporting ongoing flood relief operations in Bihar State. Many more are active in other regions still reeling from recent flooding. These volunteers have provided lifesaving support to thousands of those displaced from their homes when the Kosi River breached its banks on 18 August 2008.
Volunteers
“I am eager to help people in need and I am ready to work for the Red Cross anywhere in India or outside the country,” says Mrityunjay Kumar Jha, a trained first aid and home nursing volunteer working with the IRCS in Saharsha. Sharing his experience, he said “soon after the breach we had organised ourselves at the Red Cross branch office and quickly chalked out a plan of action for relief distribution. Dr. Abdul Kalam, IRCS Honorary Secretary, has provided great leadership.”
Elaborating further Kumar Jha said, “Our main aim was to reach severely affected areas and to identify the most vulnerable people first. We did this very well.” After demonstrating his management ability, he was selected to supervise Red Cross water purification units which were deployed at four of the largest relief camps in Patel Maidan, Baijnathpur, Koshi Chowk and at a stadium in Saharasha. Now he is busy training other volunteers to handle the units as clean water is required around the clock by those who remain unable to access their homes or villages.
Beneficiaries
9-year-old Preeti says, “I like the water from the Red Cross machine. It is clean and fresh.” She is staying in a government run camp at Patel Maidan in Saharsha. In all, 2000 families live in this camp, where the IRCS is providing clean water and distributing family packs and kitchen sets.
Narrating his sad tale, Manoj Paswan from the Madhepura district shared, “My house was washed away in the floods and I had to run from pillar to post with my family for survival. Finally, somebody told me about government camps in Saharsha. After coming to camp I got myself registered and my family received a tent. I am feeling safe here.” He was particularly grateful to the Red Cross for his kitchen set, as it allowed his family some sense of self-sufficiency.
Mega camps
More than 360,000 of those displaced by the floods are taking shelter in 35 huge relief camps in the five most heavily impacted districts in Bihar State. This is the first time in India that such large camps have been set up for so many flood affected families. What differentiates these mega camps from other camps is that they are equipped with sufficient numbers of hand pumps, toilets and kitchens. They also have health centres with operating rooms and labour rooms where doctors and para-medical staff have been deployed in adequate numbers. These camps will run until the situation returns to normal in the districts ravaged by the Kosi River.
So far the IRCS Saharsha district branch has distributed 500 family packs and tarpaulin sheets in different relief camps with the help of its volunteers. A family pack includes a kitchen set, mosquito netting, clothes, a plastic bucket, towel and a cotton blanket. The kitchen sets and clothes distributed by Red Cross are proving to be vital for the survival of those in Saharsha and Saupaul.
The IRCS Honorary Secretary in Saharsha is a busy orthopaedic doctor, yet he has been coordinating the overall flood operation in his community. “This is the first time Saharsha has had to confront such massive flooding,” he said, as this region of India is typically spared the devastation faced during the annual monsoon in other areas. For Dr. Abdul Kalam this relief operation has so far been challenging. However, he remains optimistic.
Sixty people rescued
In Saupaul, another heavily impacted district, the Red Cross has distributed an additional 500 family packs and 100 first aid trained volunteers are providing support to similar large relief camps. Arvind Thakur, Honorary Secretary for the IRCS branch in Saupaul shared that his branch rescued 60 people from Kalipur village. “This operation could last for three more months,” he shared, “as there is the possibility of more rains in Nepal in October, which may again affect Saupaul.”
Even when facing the prospect of more rain and more flooding, beneficiaries demonstrate amazing resilience, looking for ways to regain what they have lost. Red Cross Red Crescent volunteers, too, remain eager to lend a vital hand even after more than a month exhausting humanitarian service.
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Relief materials being ferried to flood affected villages by Red Cross volunteers. (p18295)
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Preetie ready to fill her bottle at water purification unit deployed at Patel Maidan emga relief camp. (p18296)
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Manoj Paswan receives Red Cross kitchen set. (p18297)
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Houses surrounded by water in Saharsha. (p18298)
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Community members use steel plates donated by the Red Cross to break their fast during Ramadan at Ahmadiya. (p18299)
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