Declare national calamity, India urged

ActionAid UK

Millions displaced, villages still cut off in Orissa’s worst flood in 26 years

With millions displaced and many still awaiting rescue in India’s flood-hit Orissa state, ActionAid has said the situation should be declared a ‘national calamity’, to allow the rapid deployment of federal resources.

According to government reports, over five million people have been affected by floods across 18 districts of Orissa. Continuous rains caused the Mahanadi river to breach its banks in nearly a hundred places, causing what media reports describe as Orissa’s worst flooding in 26 years. 56 deaths have been reported.

After a national calamity was declared in August in the state of Bihar, New Delhi rapidly mobilised funds, personnel and equipment for flood rescue and relief work.

An ActionAid assessment team returning from the flood-affected areas reported that the transport system has broken down as village roads and rail tracks remain submerged. Boats are the only way to reach most of the affected areas, but are in short supply. Remote villages are cut off, and many people are still waiting for rescue and relief teams to reach them.

The ActionAid team visited the flood affected districts of Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Khurda, Kendrapada, Nayagarh and Puri.

“A large number of the affected population in Khurda and Puri and Nayagarh districts are dalits [formerly known as untouchables] and tribal peoples,” said Manas Ranjan, ActionAid’s manager in Orissa.

ActionAid has worked in Orissa since the 1999 cyclone in which around 10,000 people died. Community disaster preparedness programmes, initiated after the cyclone, have proved vauable in the current floods.

“Where local volunteers and administration were active, villagers were able to move to higher ground when alerted and could support themselves with food stocks for the initial few days, even when centralised relief efforts were still awaited,” Ranjan said. “However, the local reserves of food are running out and people are increasingly in need of support from the government.”

ActionAid says the government need to step up the relief operations.

“Only people huddled on the higher land have received any food or relief, and those in the interiors of villages remain unreached,” said Bhramarabara Jethi of Adventure, a local ActionAid partner working in Puri district.

“With more rains expected the situation is likely to worsen. The rescue and relief operation by the government needs to be stepped up,” he added.

Government and aid agencies must pay special attention to the needs of children and pregnant and lactating women, ActionAid said.

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