September 4, 2008

More than 2 million people have been affected by floods in Bihar, India -- the worst flooding to hit the north eastern Indian region in decades. At least 70 people have been killed -- some reports say more than 100 -- and some 124,000 people have been evacuated to safer ground. Hundreds of thousands remain marooned by the flooding, living on rooftops and awaiting assistance and rescue.

Flooding has been caused by the overflowing Kosi River, which gathers water from some of the highest mountains in Nepal, including Everest, and enters India in north Bihar. Flooding has rendered useless more than 186 miles of embankments built to control waters. The effect of the flooding has been enormous, inundating numerous towns and villages that were considered *flood-safe areas," and that have not seen such floods for decades.

"It is a catastrophe far greater than the annual floods," said a statement from long-time CWS partner Church's Auxiliary for Social Action (CASA).

Response: CWS is responding by supporting efforts of CASA, which has already identified several key needs, including food, non-food items such as household items and shelter -- shelter being a particular concern with the coming onset of winter.

Objectives of the CWS-supported response including providing ready-to-eat food for 5,000 families in Bihar and providing dry rations, clothing, utensils, plastic sheets and blankets to 10,000 families. As well: the establishment of 625 transit shelters for 2500 families and 625 field bore-hole latrine units.

The ready-to-eat food is 1 kilogram of molasses and 10 kilograms of flattened rice.

Each dry ration kit consists of 10 kgs rice, 2 kgs lentils, 1litre edible oil, 1 kg salt, 200 gm turmeric powder and 200 gm chilli powder.

Household kits/ relief sets will consist of: 1 woolen blanket; 1 Dhoti (a garment worn by the men); 1 saree (women*s apparel), 9 items of aluminum utensils; 1 cotton floor mat (Dari); 1 bedsheet; 4 meters of cotton cloth; 2 plastic containers (10 litre each) for storage of water; cotton wool roll (250 gm); 5 pieces of Gamcha (towels). As well, 10,000 pieces of plastic sheets (polythene sheets, 15* by 12*) will be provided to the affected families, which will serve as an immediate temporary shelter for the families who have lost almost everything in the flood waters.

The planned transit shelters: CASA proposes to construct 625 transit shelters in the affected areas, which will house 2,500 affected families -- four families for each shelter. The proposed shelter will be 15ft x 40ft. The height of the shelter at the back side will be 12ft and the height at the front side will be 10ft.

Budget: $1,761,189, includes $140,975 for food relief assistance; $363,659 for non-food relief assistance; $912,043 for shelter and latrine construction; $344,512 for transportation, warehousing and administration.

Contributions to support this emergency appeal may be made online, sent to your denomination, or to Church World Service, P.O. Box 968 , Elkhart , IN , 46515 . Please designate: Bihar, India, Floods Appeal #699-D.

Media Contact: Lesley Crosson, CWS/New York, 212-870-2676; lcrosson@churchworldservice.org Jan Dragin, 781-925-1526; jdragin@gis.net