Flood woes

Sadly, over 25 lakh people across Assam are still reeling under floods, among whom close to 2.5 lakh are lodged in 630 relief camps. Only those who have been affected by floods can understand what kind of loss floods can cause to a family. The media have been relentlessly reporting about the sufferings of the flood-affected people of Assam. A large number of people have lost their homes because of the floods. Along with it, they have lost valuable items which include land documents, bank documents, Aadhar cards, voter id cards, various other certificates, etc, while children have lost textbooks, certificates and various other articles. While floods happen to be a recurring scourge in Assam, there is unfortunately no such mechanism in place through which the government or the authorities can help such people quickly get duplicate copies of the various documents. In West Bengal, the State government had, in collaboration with UN agencies, provided people training in the flood-prone districts on how to protect and save their valuable documents from being washed away or damaged in floods. The Assam government can explore the possibility of replicating such measures in the state. The flood relief manual of the Assam government also needs to be revisited keeping in mind the various requirements of the flood-affected people. There was a time when old and young alike were given only dry chira in relief camps. A few years ago, when the flood relief manual was revised, certain new things were introduced. But those are still inadequate. Various people have various special needs based on their age, sex, and health status. Women, including pregnant and lactating ones, have certain special needs, and so do girls in their growing stage. Similarly, there can be people suffering from various ailments lodged in relief camps. The requirements of a person suffering from heart ailments will be different from those of a cancer patient. Sanitation and disposal of waste are two other aspects that require to be looked into in a relief camp. There have been media reports from time to time about individual persons coming up with innovative ideas like floating toilets etc for use during floods. Unfortunately, such ideas and innovations are not often picked up by the authorities.