Latest on medical relief

Bitter cold makes life in flood affected regions impossible.

We have conducted meeting on 25/11/08 at our base camp office Saharsa in which 2-3 key persons maheshwar and aamir from beldaur (Khagariya), Chandra shekhar, anil verma, Nitish from Saharsa, pawan, pintu from madhepura and rajesh and Bhola from supaul attend from all 4 dist. Pintu, prakash, prabhat, and vikash from our aid team and all 3 members of coordination group Sanjay, Shankar and myself were in this meeting.  We have consolidated data of our work and final figure was more than our imagination. We have expected less bcz it was scattered.

Data at a glance

Medical camps

Duration	District	Total Camps	Total Patients
22 – 19 Nov,08	Madhupura	163	6604
5 - 28 Sep,08	Saharsa	27	4662
21 – 22 Sep,08	Supaul	2	828
	Total	192	12094

 

Relief distribution among families

4 september – 19 November

District	Block	Total Villages	Total Families
Khagaria	Beldaur	26	7589
Saharsa	Saur Bazar	18	2762
	Pattarghat	12	2267
	SonBarsa Raj	2	239
Supaul	Triveniganj	28	10027
	Chhatapur	6	499
	Prtapganj	3	70
	Basantpur	5	105
	Pipra	1	67
Madhepura	Madhepura	8	1724
	Murliganj	5	1124
	Kumarkhand	4	1026
	Alamnagar	5	1032
	Gwalpada	3	828
	Shankarpur	3	765
	Total	129	31024

 

It was happened due to your moral, technical and monitory support and our team’s efforts, dedication and commitment. It is continue also and at last December,08 we shall give you a new picture of our situation  bcz this month a big group from chennai is coming to me. Dr. urvi and priya are also coming here. Meanwhile a lot of our friends from aid india and outside also have come here and they gave a lot of supports in different kind. Balji sampath (Our secretary), Selva, Rachit, Sonia, Nikhil, Nikunj (aid delhi), Oliver, kotishwaran (Aid TN), Maharana (Aid Orissa), sanjeev, rajesh narayan, vivek Prasad, Greg bentoly (all from Delhi), Dr. sai laxmi from soija, Chennai, a taem of lions club Chennai in which Dr. Dr. R. Subramaniya Bharathiyar, Dr. Ram Babbu, Dr. Arul Kumar, Dr. Gopalakrishnan, Dr. K. C. Ramalingam, Dr. Guna Nithi, J. Rajakumar, N. Suresh kumar, M. Bakiayaraj, K. Velu are member, a team from American School of Bombay in which Matt Duffy, Russell Bell, Lisa Alsch are members are came here from out of our state. Within state Sanjay kumar state coordinator, Pratham, Arvind kumar from Pratham, Manish kumar from Pratham, sanjeev from Pratham, a team of Sunai group, a jambo jet group of Pratham are with us from beginning and support each other. Mr. Anshu gupta and reena from Goonj were in our deep association. They support a lot at different kinds. This data is result of them.

As you know I have come here alone first with only my 2 friend from Patna. Whole planning is based on this friend circle team and now we have a network from dist to tola where we have done some work. We are proud of our team bcz we have some specialties. So we can go village without any problem. First time when material distribution was being snatched somewhere, that time we are going to villages by boat without fear and people keep us on their own hands. When reports are coming from somewhere that used cloths are not excepted by people and supaul administration gave direction not to distribute used cloths,  at that time we are distributing worst cloths also and people are accepted it bcz it is need of remote villages and few people want to go there.

In this time so many events also happened. So many boat accidents happened. Our team leader of Supaul Rajesh also accident one time and he saved himself by swimming. People carry their motorcycle by boat also. I saw some accident in which motorcycle also submerged in water. Some relatives of our activists are dead also by submerging in water.

I have visited villages a lot. I have seen situation from kusaha to beldaur. In the way different parts of supaul, madhepura and saharsa have been visited by me also. It is impossible to describe all things that I have feel personally. I feel, each person is a separate story in himself and each village is separate history in itself.

We got deep affection, regards and honor from villagers and public. But we feel some pain full experiences also.

• Some group understand beggar to people and behave like this.
• Somebody understand beggar to us also and he supplies me materials as their attitude.
• I saw a lot of cheating, corruption and inhuman behavior with sufferer people.
• Some groups want to robber dignity and self honor of sufferer people.
• Some people can play politics on dead body.

But this scale is less. I saw a chain of people who are in queue to support sufferers with full humanity, emotion, sentiment and honor. This scale is very high.

In last we are compelled to praise of patience and daring of sufferer people. Their house is cutting by water and he is viewing by standing on the bank of this cutting. Everything is snatching and he is mute. More than lacks people are killed in this occurrence and nobody is asking who is responsible for this event. Nature? Leader? Officers? Public? ……………………………………………….

Our some friends who returned from here are doing a lot. Oliver, selva, rachit, Sonia are helping our team in different manner. Matt, Russel and lissa from ASB are also doing better efforts for here. Apoorva from delhi is also supporting heartly. Our friends from US are in my touch directly and they are standing near us in this sorrow time. Priya Ranjan -team, Nirveek, Aisa, Avnit, from Seattle team, Rashmi etc (sorry friends, it is difficult to recognize all friend from here. Plz donot mind) are in regular contact. Dr Mohan Bhagat is also blessing me regularly.

Rajeev Ranjan from Hong Kong (Priya Ranjan’s friend) also supported and Bhawna from Australia always ask our Hal- Chal. Aruna Rodrigues from chhatisgarh also supported us ( Priya Ranjan’s initiation).

Now we are working on some issues like

• Winter kits distribution specially blankets
• Medical camps
• General cloths distribution
• Some needy household kits according to most demand
• Coordination with some groups
• Helping some groups who are coming here with their own objective
• Children food materials like biscuit and milk powder distribution

We needed something also

• 1-2 skilled people who can document our efforts. Oliver has done a lot and we are trying our best here also.
• Other sector skilled persons.
• Materials for needy person.
• Fund support

For fund support and managements and technical questions, it will be better to talk with Balaji directly.

In our last meeting, we are thinking to work on 2 more things

• Rickshaw distribution : we are identifying 15 blocks and thinking if any group supports us, we can distribute 3-4 Hand rickshaw or thela (luggage carrier rickshaw) to each block. It means in first phase 45-60 rickshaws to 60 people for their employment.  Cost of each rickshaw may be Rs. 5000/-. So Money required Rs 225000/- to 300000/- (3 lacks + 25-30 thousands for coordination, carriage and misc exp). So if you are agree with me and want to support for this, you can support.
• We are thinking to work on solar distribution also. But we have not exercised now. But we can initiate this.

It is also demanding from ground to work on educational activities in this area.

So plz think and reply me and our team.

With Warm Regards

Dharmendra 

 

Statistical reports from Bihar Flood Relief

Latest statistics on flood relief dear friends i am sending 3 data that reflects our relief efforts. our work is in progress but i faced very difficulty to send report regularly due to network and electricity problems. from last two days i want to write some more report and article but i am so many problems. actually yesterday our four vehicle has accident. now it is ok. my laptop didnot open. i donot know why? today i send it begusaray for repair an activists niranjan of Arwal and he is working at Madhepura has badly cold effected and his body became swelled. now he is ok Our 2 activists Prakash and Prabhat (both from dehari and working with us in fllod area) are going to their home permanantly. they are good worker and our strength became less. now we have rush of our prog. winter kits distribution is going on in villages. meeting in villages is also continue. some vist prog is as below:   1-6 dec Dr. urvi from US is camping in some medical camps at saharsa, madhepura and supaul. 1-8 dec 27 IIT students from chennai is coming with school and village activities for above 3 dists. 16-22 dec Priya ranjan from US is visiting these area. Jan first week some high school students from mumbai are coming to visit these areas. cold in this area is very high. just imagine how people are living in villages. i live in rooms at dist headquaters. rest later with thanks dharmendra  Data at a glance   Medical camps Duration District Total Camps Total Patients 22 – 19 Nov,08 Madhupura 163 6604 5 - 28 Sep,08 Saharsa 27 4662 21 – 22 Sep,08 Supaul 2 828     Total 12094   Relief distribution among families 4 september – 19 November District Block Total Villages Total Families Khagaria Beldaur 26 7589 Saharsa Saur Bazar 18 2762   Pattarghat 12 2267   SonBarsa Raj 2 239 Supaul Triveniganj 28 10027   Chhatapur 6 499   Prtapganj 3 70   Basantpur 5 105   Pipra 1 67 Madhepura Madhepura 8 1724   Murliganj 5 1124   Kumarkhand 4 1026   Alamnagar 5 1032   Gwalpada 3 828   Shankarpur 3 765     Total 31024

Bihar Flood: A NATIONAL DISASTER by Oliver from Chennai

NATIONAL DISASTER

Agriculture land is now, fishing land. 
 

My observations during Bihar visit 

It was my first visit to Bihar. I reached Saharsa on 22^nd Sep with two volunteers from Chennai. I saw hundreds of family taken the shelter on railway platforms. Hundreds of children were seen with no dress. We went to our relief office (centre) just 1km from railway station. We met Dharmendra, then we got freshen up and went to back to Saharsa railway station with medicines to put up medical camp. Kosi people’s relief committee was known to be the first association to put up camp in Saharsa station to help the people, who left their house due to flood. AID India medical team set up their camp for two full days headed by Dr.Sailakshmi (of CIOSA) specialized in Pediatric. Many people were screened by Dr.Sai, especially women and children. This medical team also visited many villages thereby reaching service to thousands of families. 

My field visits with Rajesh and Greg:

Mr. Greg Bentley from California volunteered AID - Bihar for two week. He came on 30^th Sep and the same day we went to Tirveniganj block of Supaul district. We met Rajesh (former mukhia of Koriapatti Panchayat); a young and brave person always involves himself in social services activities. Rajesh currently volunteers for AID – Bihar. He is the person in charge carrying out our relief work in Supaul district keeping Tirveniganj block as the base. 

Village visit: On 30^th September evening, we went to Dhoparka village. There we met villagers and visited some of their damaged homes. We saw many electrical posts, and underground telephone cables were broken & damaged. Pucca roads were fully damaged and seen like kutcha roads as it was cut off into many pieces. 

On 1^st October around 7am we were travelling towards Prathapganj block in a jeep. We reached a place called Pipra were our vehicle caught in a huge traffic jam. We planned to take diversion, but we were interested to know the reason for early morning traffic. It was on NH-107, were people residing in one of the relief camp run by government in Pipra higher secondary school went on road strike against government. We just peeped into the closed circle and it was Rajesh who shocked to see and hear that a lady belonged to his own village was forced to sexual abuse by group of home guard (police) person on the previous night. And her husband and brother lying on the centre of the road were severely beaten up for complaining in nearby police station, by the police man. It was the fourth incident in the same week in the same camp, where women were sexually abused by police person and there was no action taken by the police even after complaining. We visited the camp site and studied the situation. Rajesh immediately informed the situation to DM, SP, local radio channel and few news agents. It was around 11’o’ clock, we took diversion and started moving towards Prathapganj. The traffic jam was on long stretch (more than 2km) and people going to distance places like Katmandu (Nepal) suffered had to wait till evening. Rajesh followed the situation every now and then and helped the victims to get justice. Next day almost every paper had the top story reporting the strike news stating that the three accused were suspended from job and kept under judicial custody. 

The lifelines: We went to Dwania & Gandsai villages in Prathapganj block and Kataiya & Banellipatti village in Basanthpur block. All these villages were heavily damaged, thousands of families have displaced to other place. Peoples lost their homes, agriculture (fertile) land and cattle’s. Many villages are still out of reach, those villages are like islands, cut off from transport & communication, even the state government has not reached till the date in many villages.

       
 

Kosi in new course: It was around 1:30pm in Basanthpur block. We were in a place called 22RD bridge for field visit, 12km closer to Nepal border. We planned to visit the broken embankment by Kosi River in Nepal. Finally, we reached India-Nepal border by passing through Bhimnagar village which touches the Nepal border. Our flood relief banner tied on the vehicle was our passport. We travelled 12km from the border towards the broken embankment in Nepal. We were asked to stop our vehicle before 2km as the reconstruction work of river bank was on process. We reached the spot at 3pm and interacted with Nepal Army men, boatmen and construction worker. We came to know that the river bank actually broke on 08/08/08 to 150mtrs and was left out unattended, which actually needed immediate repair/ blockage. Currently it has enlarged nearly 1.85km.

ß The scene behind in the picture is the actual spot where the Kosi broke river embankment and formed a new course on right side                                       .                                                 *Usually it turns to left side, which enters into Bihar through Kosi Barrage (à).  

ß The actual path of River Kosi is seen dry now. 
 

2^nd October:  

The unattended ……

  

All these dead bodies and animals were found lying on farm land. We happened to see all these bodies exactly on the 50^th day of the flood, affected in Mirjawa village of Supaul district. The whole village was stinking with dead body smell. We saw two human dead bodies and nearly dozen of cattle’s dead in the same village. We immediately reported it to nearby villagers to remove them. The people replied that they witnessed hundreds of dead bodies and cattle’s that washed away from their own village during flood and they removed many such unknown bodies. 

ß  People living in tents & huts on both side of bank of BMC cannel in Barakhurwa village                     .                              * Tents on the bank of 120km BMC canal (the main stream and longest canal emerging from Kosi in Bihar). à

ß People getting their meal in government camp, Auralha village

*  SC families in their tents, Gunaha village à 
 
 

3^rd October:  

We went to Maktab in Tirveniganj, were 182 Muslim families have taken shelter in a primary school. These families are the residents from Koriapatti, Manganj, Gudia, Barakhurwa, and Dopaharka Panchayat. We served milk and biscuit to 200 children at 7am. 

We reached Thitvaha village, were we came to know that more than 1500 families displaced from Lagunia, Mirjawa and Jarkahe villages built tents themselves and they dint receive any relief from government. We included this settlement area in our relief list.  

 Around 1pm we reached Shivnagar with great difficulty. The roads were tattered. It was lunch time in the relief camp. About 300 Children were served first with rice and daal. We interacted with school HM and came to know that nearly 530 families and 4 children had died in past one month due to severe dioheria. We gave 5 packets containing 500 halogen tablets. On that day we came across a child suffering from severe dioheria and vomiting. We immediately took the child to Govt. Referral Hosp that 25km away from that village. 

We visited Govt. Mega camp in Malhanva. The camp strength was approximately 10500 people, in that 2500 were children. The camp was under the supervision of Army who provided tents to the people who were asked to share among two families. This camp is been supported by UNICEF especially for child care. The camp had decent facility of medical care, SSA school, telephone booth, drinking water, training centre, toilet & sanitation. People were given new set of cloths, plate, and glass. Some people started petty shops in camps, with the left out items.       

 

4^th October: 

On this day we entered in Singeshwar village (in Singeshwar block of Madhepura district). The water has receded in this block and government was reconstructing bridges and laying roads, that was going on full fledge.

This type of Bamboo Bridge can be seen in almost in all the flood affected areas (villages) to connect cutoff roads. In our visit we also came to know shocking information that in some villages, these types of bridges were laid in previous flood which came in 2004. 
 
 
 
 

On the same evening we went to Mirjawa village to distribute food packets to 100 families containing Chudha, Channa, Atta, Candle & Matchbox, Rice and cloths. These families were identified by Rajesh with the help of  villagers for support. The selected family members were told to come to a spot at 4pm. People also cooperated well in distribution work. 
 

The reality: -  It seems like “food for work” has now changed to “fight for food”. 

Yes, many people are struggling to get their share (food). This is also one of the main news which comes in local news paper like Hindustan and Dainik Jagaran. But on this day we witnessed once such issue in Maojama village of Shankarpur block. There was a clash between two villages Madheli and Maojama. People from both villages were demanding for food grains, to be distributed it their respective village fist. It was the first time the relief from state government had reached their village since the flood affected on 19^th august.

 
 

In response to devastating flood occurred on 18/08/08.      Oliver,

AID – India, Chennai