Flood relief and role of voluntary agencies in Assam Ravindranath, Chief Funtionary A brief background on flood in Assam :

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1 Flood relief and role of voluntary agencies in Assam Ravindranath, Chief Funtionary A brief background on flood in Assam : According to a study carried out by the UNESCO under its International Hydrological Decade program, the Brahmaputra ranks fourth in order amongst the rivers of the world in respect of known maximum historic flood discharge. From the records(refer to the table 1) it is seen that while floods occurred in the Brahmaputra valley year after year, the floods of 1954, 1962, 1966, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1977, 1978, 1983, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1998, 2000 and 2004 were very high, said the Task Force for Flood Management and Erosion Control. What causes the floods in a recurring manner in the State? The Task Force identified heavy rainfall, physiographic condition, earthquake and landslides, high silt load, encroachment of riverine areas, steep slope, inadequate drainage, deforestation and watershed degradation, obstruction at the tributaries confluence with the Brahmaputra, effect of works on other side of the International border and loss or destruction of wetlands as the factors responsible for all these. The Brahmaputra basin is subjected to heavy rainfall every year. Rainfall of more than 40 mm in an hour is common in the valley. The belt covering Gerukamukh, Likabali and Pasighat gets more than 60mm of rainfall per hour. The highest hourly rainfall recorded at Saralpara was 97.5 mm on Annual rainfall ranging from 2,000 mm to more than 6,300 mm in the North-Eastern hills is largely concentrated during four to five monsoon months and is responsible for the high floods in the valley, the Task Force said. The Task Force also attributed the flash floods in the Krishnai, Dudhnoi, Kulsi and Bolbola rivers on October 7 and 8, 2004 to cloud bursts caused by cyclonic circulations, near the Assam-Meghalaya border. On the points of earthquake and landslide, it said that geologically, the Himalayas were young mountains and hence unstable. The North-Eastern region is particularly unstable because of its high seismicity. On an average, about eight earthquakes of magnitude higher than five on the Richter scale occur every year in the region, which seriously shake the land and disturb the terrain. The earthquakes of 1897 and 1950 were the most severe which disturbed the drainage pattern of the valley. After the earthquake of 1950, there was a general rise of low water level by three meters in the Brahmaputra at Dibrugarh. The Dibang River silted up by six metres near Sadiya. The abnormal rise of the bed of the Brahmaputra after the 1950 earthquake resulted in development of a number of new spill channels on both banks. The uncontrolled discharge and subsequent spilling of these channels cause serious flood, erosion and drainage problems in the countryside areas. Developmental works like roads, buildings etc., also have caused a number of landslides increasing the silt load on the natural channels, it said. The Brahmaputra is one of the major sediment transporting rivers of the world. Its annual sediment load is estimated to be about 397 million tonnes with a flow of 477

2 billion cubic metres during , at Pancharatna. This river has the highest sediment yield next to the Yellow River in China. Its tributaries also carry high sediment load, which is normally more than 1,000 tonnes per square kilometers per year. The high sediment load in the river leads to reduction in the carrying capacity of river and overtopping of banks and inundation of surrounding land causing floods, the Task Force said. Encroachment on the riverine areas is also a major cause aggravating the flood distress in the valley. During the second half of the 20th century, there has been a steep rise in population due to geo-political and other reasons resulting in encroachment of the riverine lands and thereby accentuating the flood problem in the valley, it said. Also, the steep slopes of the Himalayan hills are responsible for the flash floods and erosion in the plain reach of the northern tributaries of the Brahmaputra. Moreover, the development of various infrastructures in the river catchments like construction of roads, bridges, railway lines and dwelling units also obstruct the natural drainage in the catchments and accentuate the silt inflow. The large quantity of silt and debris deposited by the northern tributaries of the Brahmaputra at their confluences with the mighty river also result in the inundation of the areas along the tributaries banks in the lower reaches, the Task Force said. Apart from these inappropriate infrastructures (large bridges, large dams etc) on run-off water system as well as boulder and sand mining on upper reaches of tributaries of Brahmaputra has increased the magnitude of flood on Brahmaputra River Basin manifold. Policy environment to tackle the flood problem: The embankment on Brahmaputra (4454 kilometers) constructed during fifties to fend the onslaught of the river has waned out with passage of time out of retaliation of the river. Numerous open breaches on the embankment channelised the monsoon rising water of the river to thousands of villages throughout the state affecting lakhs of people. Development of new breaches has turned into a yearly phenomenon. Shifting of rivers, mainly the tributaries of Brahmaputra, is the other vital aspect associated with flood. The attitude of the state organs towards flood management is mostly reactionary. The attitude of the state machineries on the subject in this part of the country largely reflects traditional defence that disasters are an Act of God and the event is the beginning and end of the effort on defining a disaster. Consequently, management chapter of disaster emphasizes on reactionary approaches i.e. rescue and relief largely ignoring the vulnerability and preparedness aspects to mitigate the disaster. Moreover, the reactionary approaches largely exclude a huge chunk of population due to crunches of resources, inappropriate management of resources as well as lack of willingness. Moreover there is a diminishing trend so far as Central plan allocations to the State s flood control sector are concerned. State s flood sector received 3.11% of the total plan allocation for the state in the fifth five year plan which has slid down to 0.53% during the 10th five year plan. A briefing on Role of Voluntary agency s in flood of Assam: In the above explained context, where the magnitude of flood damage is very big and state policies to address the same is limited (inadequate) and ill-designed i.e. gaps prevail on addressing the immediate distress of the people and rebuild their lives, and the voluntary agencies (including the foreign agencies in collaboration with local

3 agencies) functional in the region are very effectively accomplishing their responsibilities. The role of Voluntary Agencies in flood of Assam has attained a remarkable height from the 2nd half of nineties; the period when intensity, complexity and consequent damages due to flood have reached a height that can t be tackled by a single agency even Government. Experiences of Rural Volunteers Centre (RVC) working for flood relief intensively from the year 1998 in Brahmaputra River Basin reflect that the State Government has been largely cooperative towards the Voluntary Agencies (including the foreign agencies) and occasionally come up openly that the need of the distressed people could not have been met without support from the Voluntary Agencies. Below we explain some critical arenas within many of the line where the Voluntary Agencies have put great effort and come up with success on meeting the distress of the affected people. 1. Flood Preparedness: The critical aspect of mitigating the damage of flood is the preparedness measures taken at community level during the pre-flood session. Equipping the community with appropriate physical resources to address emergency situations, imparting knowledge to avoid diseases during and post-flood session largely come under flood preparedness. It has been found that when Government have not included these chapters in their policy, huge works at community level has been going through intervention of Voluntary Agencies basically in the Districts of Dhemaji, North Lakhimpur,Nalbari,Kamrup Jorhat, Morigaon, Dhuburi and more to add to the list. To share the experiences of RVC since 1998 to the year 2005 hundreds of villages have been covered by RVC on the issue of Safe Drinking Water (how to get safe drinking water in the flood period), hundreds of Duryug Samitis (Community based resource centre) have been formed and equipped (providing temporary shelter materials viz bamboo, tarpaulins; water purifying tablets viz halozane, geoline) to address emergency situation immediately in community s initiative. Hundred numbers of boats have been distributed within the vulnerable community to ensure easy mobility to safer places in the time of distress. Grain banks have been set up in flood vulnerable areas to address the food and seed crisis of the people during the flood and post-flood period. These interventions have been realized jointly by RVC and different foreign 2. Rescue: The Voluntary agencies have also shown great potentiality in rescuing people in distress during emergency flood situation. To share the experiences of RVC, RVC has been largely involved in evacuating people from vulnerable areas during the year 2002, 2003 and 2004 with the help of the machine boats available with the organization supported by a foreign funding agency. Similar happenings are going in Moridhal, Jorhat, and Dhuburi districts also with support from different funding agencies both national and foreign 3. Temporary shelter: The immediate needs of the flood-affected people displaced from their original location and not finding space in Government s relief camps is temporary shelter materials (tarpaulins, bamboo etc.). In this context, voluntary agencies have shown great potentiality in addressing the need of the people in distress. To share the experience of RVC in the year 2004 RVC has provided 8500 numbers of tarpaulins to the people in flood distress in Dhemaji and North Lakhimpur District with support from different funding agencies when Government s support in this direction was negligible.

4 4. Health camps: Health hazards are one of the common consequences of the effect of flood and the Voluntary agencies have contributed largely in this direction in many times collaboration with district administration through providing both preventive as well as remedial measures. To take note of the same during the devastating flood of 2004 the services provided by voluntary agencies in Dhemaji, Morigaon, Nalbari Districts have earned great appreciation from all corners. To share the experiences of RVC, RVC has provided services to the affected people holding health camps in the year 2002, 2003, 2004 in collaboration with the district health administration and support from foreign funding 5. Immediate food support : The voluntary Organizations of Assam have successfully helped the flood-affected people on accessing minimum food requirements. In this context we would like to share the experience of RVC when RVC addressed the need of the people with help from foreign In the year 1998 RVC Akajan has provided supplementary feeding (suji, chatu, and molasses) to 10,000-children/ pregnant/ lactating mother throughout the district for 4767 nos. of families for a period of 30 days. In the year 2000 RVC Akajan provided food support (rice, dal, M.Oil, salt) to 4250 nos. of families encompassing a population of nos. for a period of 1 month. In the year 2002 RVC Akajan provided food support (rice, dal, salt) for 2707 families encompassing a population of 14,986 nos. for a period of 7 days. In the same year 11,000 nos. of children/ lactating mother / pregnant women had been covered un der supplementary nutrition program providing rice, dal, m.oil and salt for a period of 45 days. In the year families were supported under supplementary nutrition pro gram. 6. Rehabilitation of the affected people: Rehabilitation is the most vital needs of the affected people which include land, house and livelihood. In this context the Voluntary Agencies have shown great achievements. To share the experience of RVC in this context with aid from national and foreign agencies we put forward the following interventions- Promotion of IRRI paddy : A post flood crops introduced (involving 1000 families) by RVC in this part of the country to revive the economy of the community following flood, is presently been adopted by hundreds of families. Regarding infrastructure development the project has so far generated 11numbers of flood shelter (raised platform) of the dimension 150ft. x 120 ft. x 18 ft. through food for work (FFW) and Cash for Work (CFW) to ensure safety to the life and belongings of the vulnerable people as well as to eliminate the sub- human conditions that the people have to live in the time of flood emergency. Apart from this, RVC Akajan has constructed 30.0 kilometers of village road in the post flood session of the year 1998 and 36.0 kilometers in the post flood session of the year 2002 through food for Works under its Village Construction Program through FFW

5 In the year 1998 the people of 2 washed out villages had been rehabilitated through initiative of RVC consisting of 58 and 48 nos of families respectively. Livelihood generation for the affected people through accessibility to fishing net, yarn and vegetables seed is the area of intervention in the respective year. In the next stage, RVC campaigned in favor of the people to include them under Government s housing program (IAY) for the rural BPL families and ensured the same. In the year 2000, 1204 nos. of affected families had been rehabilitated through initiative of RVC in 12 clusters. Livelihood generation for the affected people through accessibility to fishing net, yarn and vegetables seed was taken in big a dimension. In the year 2003 RVC covered 2000 families in its effort to generate livelihood opportunity for the flood hit people in Dhemaji district. The effort has concentrated on agro-based support in terms of seed (mustard, pea, and boro paddy), organic fertilizer, organic insecticides; livestock support in terms of piggery, goatery, poultry, and duckery; fishing net. The writer is an Engineer by training and is also trained in management in community development. He worked for 25 years in villages of Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Arunachal Pradesh and Assam. He is moderator of River Basin Friends (NE) Network and holds the post of Director, Rural Volunteers Centre, Akajan, Dhemaji district of Assam for the past 16 years.. God is everywhere. He sleeps in stone, awakes in plants and speaks only in man. Service to man therefore is highest worship of God Swami Vivekananda.