In October 2006, almost 1.5 million people living in the villages of Murshidabad District, 150 km north of Kolkata, were displaced by the rising flood waters of the Bhagirathi River and its tributaries.
Villagers moved to higher ground, some sheltering in school buildings and railway stations, waiting for the flood waters to recede until they could salvage their crops, rebuild damaged homes and return to their daily lives.
CINI in Murshidabad
CINI has been working with the local government in the area since 1998, implementing programmes on health and nutrition, education and disaster preparedness. Murshidabad District has high rates of illiteracy and poverty among the communities, making it prone to child labour, trafficking of girls and migration of the rural poor to urban slums.
CINI's presence in the area enabled it to offer immediate support to flood stricken families when approached by the local community.
CINI's response
CINI UK supporters contributed to the cost of water purifying tables, bleaching powder and anti-diarrhoea tablets to treat the outbreak of gastro-intestinal diseases in the relief camps.
Volunteers were recruited and trained from the community to help distribute the supplies to the returning villagers. Oral re-hydration therapy packs were supplied, particularly to malnourished children who are prone to water-borne infections, to combat the potentially fatal effects of dehydration and diarrhoea.
Food stores were replenished for those families whose crops had been destroyed and would have to wait until the next harvest season for their supply of food.
CINI has constructed a flood shelter above the local school, which also serves as an extra classroom for the school during the day and will be used for health and nutrition related work during the evenings. This shelter was used by villagers in the recent floods of 2007, although timely government relief and less extensive flooding meant that CINI did not need to provide direct relief services during this time.
CINI UK Chairman, Lady Slynn, visited the flooded village of Santosh Nangar, to offer her encouragement to the villagers and help with distributing medicines.
"It really gave me an insight into the challenges of living in an area prone to yearly flooding" she said. "Life certainly doesn't wait for the floodwaters to recede. I met the grandmother of a baby born on the platform at the nearby railway station where the family had sheltered during the flood. The mother had to be screened off during the birth and a birth attendant who was also camping in the station assisted with the delivery."
Medicines were provided by CINI for the baby who had developed an eye infection in the damp conditions. |
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