River of Sorrow floods Nepal and India

The floods began when the Kosi River, a tributary of the Ganges River that flows from the Nepalese Himalayas through Nepal and India, breached its banks in August after unusually heavy monsoon rains.

Known as the “River of Sorrow” for its notoriously destructive episodes of flooding, the Kosi is watched with trepidation by those who live along its banks — whose lives and livelihoods depend upon the containment of the river’s turbulent water.

Today, following the Kosi’s worst flooding in 50 years, over half of Bihar — one of India’s poorest states — is flooded and more than 3 million people displaced. Close to another 100,000 have been displaced in Nepal. Thousands of villages are flooded; hundreds of thousands of homes have been destroyed; and millions of acres of farmland are now submerged.

Plan has taken immediate action in India and Nepal to help meet the basic needs of those affected:

India
In India, Plan has given an initial US$ 150,000 from our emergency fund and begun a focused response with partners in the Supaul District along the Dafarka Canal — an isolated population living on an embankment who have not yet been reached by other relief workers — as well as in the Madhepura District and Saharsa.

We expect to reach 13,000 people through interventions that include providing families with enough cooked food for a week, dry rations for a month, tarpaulins for shelter, water purifying tablets and child-friendly spaces.

In Supaul, where concerns about hygiene and water-borne illnesses are particularly high and preventing the outbreak of disease has taken precedent, we’re also setting up health centers for eight villages where we’ll distribute hygiene kits, build temporary toilets and identify reconstruction priorities.

Nepal
Plan Nepal is requesting US$ 200,000 to help fund a nine-month program (in line with the government’s own action plan) that includes providing immediate relief and support to families displaced by the floods, specifically to elderly people, pregnant women, new mothers, and children.

Emergency relief will include providing shelter to 500 families, mattresses to 3,500 families, and nutritional food to 5,000 children under the age of five, pregnant women, new mothers and the elderly. Over 2,000 children in camps will benefit from 80 sets of play materials, and safe learning spaces will be built to benefit 400 children. Plan will also be providing health care support and promoting adequate sanitation and hygiene practices within camps in order to halt the spread of disease.

Donate today to Plan’s Disaster Fund to give children, their families and communities affected by crisis immediate emergency relief as well as longer-term support and rehabilitation.



Information for sponsors
We will of course contact sponsors directly if we receive any news about individual sponsored children. If you are planning a visit or have any particular concerns around this issue, please contact our Donor Relations staff at 1-800-556-7918.

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