The flood, caused by a huge breach in the embankment of the Saptakosi river in Nepal on August 18, have displaced nearly 3 million people in Bihar’s 11 district.
This one line is enough to give the idea about scale of disaster and and kind of help needed.
We request every one from around the world come together and and help the unfortunate victims of this disaster in any way they can do.
At this moment let me tell you we are just looking for survival but its a long battle.It will take another 6 to 8 months before water will go down and places will be fit for victims to settle down.(only if their respective village not eroded completely in flood.)
Answer lies in the way we handle our river
I was reading one of the views about the same.
It was like this:
Koshi River and several such rivers of east and north Bihar are typical examples of our casual approach both by local authorities and the government. It is surprising to note that a majority of IAS/IPS officers in India hail from northern and eastern parts of Bihar, which every year is facing an acute problem of floods. Probably the lack of conviction for the state is the reason, which otherwise prevails in cadres of other states. Otherwise they would have drawn up plans for a permanent solution of their states recurring problem.
Instead of taking the natural way of solving the problem and tackling the problem of the changing change of these small rivers the authorities and governments of this beleaguered state have been creating only bunds to stop the flow of rivers. They are not going into the root cause of this recurring problem, which has come to a stage, which is going to create irreparable losses to the people of Bihar and its poor economy. Crores of rupees have been wasted on paper on creating the bunds, but the problem will mount every year.
Our authorities should learn how the Huang-ho, the Yellow River of China which had killed more than 1.5 million people in 1887, was changed to be rechristened the ’cradle of civilization’ from ’China’s Sorrow’. The river Huang-ho earned its epithet "China’s Sorrow" and "The Ungovernable" due to its periodic catastrophic flooding. It was then realised by Chinese authorities that heavy siltation in the rivers was the major problem which was making the river terrorise and kill people.
The Chinese have taken steps to convert this sorrow into a spreading smile on the faces of the people who were otherwise being victimised by the river. The Chinese have adopted a dual method of taming the flow and regular desiltation of these rivers.
They have erected dams along Huang-ho River to tame its flow, remove regularly the fertile silt from the river bed and distribute this fertile silt to neighbouring areas to increase fertility of those lands. They have also altered the flow of Huang-ho River to new lakes. By adopting these three methods the Chinese have made ’The Ungovernable" Huang-ho to be governed by people.
Can our authorities learn a lesson from China? Can these Chinese models be replicated in Bihar to lessen the problem of the ill fated state? Can our authorities draw a complete plan for Bihar for desiltation of the small rivers? Can our authorities work with full commitment to save millions in Bihar from the next floods? And finally, but most importantly can diverting money in the name of flood relief be stopped in Bihar?
any answers?
It was like this:
Koshi River and several such rivers of east and north Bihar are typical examples of our casual approach both by local authorities and the government. It is surprising to note that a majority of IAS/IPS officers in India hail from northern and eastern parts of Bihar, which every year is facing an acute problem of floods. Probably the lack of conviction for the state is the reason, which otherwise prevails in cadres of other states. Otherwise they would have drawn up plans for a permanent solution of their states recurring problem.
Instead of taking the natural way of solving the problem and tackling the problem of the changing change of these small rivers the authorities and governments of this beleaguered state have been creating only bunds to stop the flow of rivers. They are not going into the root cause of this recurring problem, which has come to a stage, which is going to create irreparable losses to the people of Bihar and its poor economy. Crores of rupees have been wasted on paper on creating the bunds, but the problem will mount every year.
Our authorities should learn how the Huang-ho, the Yellow River of China which had killed more than 1.5 million people in 1887, was changed to be rechristened the ’cradle of civilization’ from ’China’s Sorrow’. The river Huang-ho earned its epithet "China’s Sorrow" and "The Ungovernable" due to its periodic catastrophic flooding. It was then realised by Chinese authorities that heavy siltation in the rivers was the major problem which was making the river terrorise and kill people.
The Chinese have taken steps to convert this sorrow into a spreading smile on the faces of the people who were otherwise being victimised by the river. The Chinese have adopted a dual method of taming the flow and regular desiltation of these rivers.
They have erected dams along Huang-ho River to tame its flow, remove regularly the fertile silt from the river bed and distribute this fertile silt to neighbouring areas to increase fertility of those lands. They have also altered the flow of Huang-ho River to new lakes. By adopting these three methods the Chinese have made ’The Ungovernable" Huang-ho to be governed by people.
Can our authorities learn a lesson from China? Can these Chinese models be replicated in Bihar to lessen the problem of the ill fated state? Can our authorities draw a complete plan for Bihar for desiltation of the small rivers? Can our authorities work with full commitment to save millions in Bihar from the next floods? And finally, but most importantly can diverting money in the name of flood relief be stopped in Bihar?
any answers?
Koshi River breaks all its barriers
The infamous "Sorrow of Bihar" the Koshi River, which was kept ’somehow’ under control for several decades, has now broken all its barriers, claimed thousands of lives, destroyed lakhs of acres of standing crops, thousands of cattle have been swept away at a deadly speed of over 100 kilometers per hour. In a nut shell the 14 districts of east and north Bihar have been literally annihilated.
The poorest state of India whose economy has been beheaded with the formation of Jharkhand, is surviving on its arable land and its young generation depends on the employment as mass ’teachers’ recruitment by the state government. If its arable land and its standing crops have been lost, its cattle that are the bread read earners for millions of poor families have been swept away, then this first among poor state will be left with nothing, since the major talent and work force (about 70 per cent) of the state is migratory in nature serving in other states of India and are being traumatised and have been targeted by some ’people’ where they have migrated.
Now the biggest question is -- was it not possible by the authorities and government to avert this situation, which is threatening to swallow more than four eastern districts of Bihar and forcing the world’s biggest ever evacuation of more than 20 lakh people.
The poorest state of India whose economy has been beheaded with the formation of Jharkhand, is surviving on its arable land and its young generation depends on the employment as mass ’teachers’ recruitment by the state government. If its arable land and its standing crops have been lost, its cattle that are the bread read earners for millions of poor families have been swept away, then this first among poor state will be left with nothing, since the major talent and work force (about 70 per cent) of the state is migratory in nature serving in other states of India and are being traumatised and have been targeted by some ’people’ where they have migrated.
Now the biggest question is -- was it not possible by the authorities and government to avert this situation, which is threatening to swallow more than four eastern districts of Bihar and forcing the world’s biggest ever evacuation of more than 20 lakh people.
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