THE UNITED Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has expressed grave concern over the worsening humanitarian situation in Bihar, where more than three million people have been uprooted and at least 60 got killed in the worst flooding to hit north-east India in 50 years.
UNICEF is continuing its relief operation amid what it describes as a “grim humanitarian situation” with tens of thousands of people, including many children, still stranded in remote areas.
Many of them are living in the open, staying on highlands along river tributaries or on the side of the road, and many have moved more than once to escape rising flood waters.
“The displacement of people has been massive as people continue to flee or are evacuated from marooned areas. Many have settled in relief camps, but some of these have also been flooded”.
The relief and rehabilitation operation in Bihar could be needed for several months, according to UNICEF aid workers on the ground in the flood-afflicted area.
The agency is concentrating their efforts on delivering life-saving supplies such as clean water, medicines and shelter equipment, much of which was already stored in the region before the floods struck Bihar.
“Last year, flooding had affected other areas in Bihar and since then UNICEF had stockpiled emergency material there,” the agency’s spokesperson Veronique Taveau told reporters in Geneva.
“Therefore, it was able to immediately help affected people with plastic sheets, hygiene kits and other aid,” she added.
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