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India: Assam Floods and Landslides - Information Bulletin No. 1

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The situation

Flooding and landslides caused by the overflowing of Brahmaputra River (which flows from the Himalayas) bursting its riverbanks have affected 4.3 million people in the state of Assam. 120 deaths have been reported as of date. Tens of thousands have been displaced with 83,000 people seek temporary shelters at camps set up by the Government of India while many others are living in makeshift shelters. 28 districts in Assam are affected by the floods; Dhemaji, Lakhimpur, Biswanath, Barpeta, Chirang, Golaghat Jorhat, Sonitpur, Darrang, Nalbari, Bongaigaon, Morigaon, Nagaon, Majuli, Baksa, Kokrajhar, Dhubri, South Salmara, Goalpara, Kamrup, Hojai, Sivsagar, Tinsukia, Cachar, KarbiAnglrng, West Karbi-Anglong, Hailakandi and Dibrugarh districts.

In addition to Assam, 12 districts in Bihar are also badly affected by floods; Sitamarhi, Sheohar, East Champaran, Muzaffarpur, Madhubani, Darbhanga, Supaul, Araria, Sahersa , Katihar, Purnia, and Kishanganj. A total of 1,796,535 people has been affected and 1,100,000 people are displaced by flood water in 55 blocks in nine districts - Sheohar, Sitamarhi, East Champaran, Madhubani, Araria, Kishanganj, Supaul, Darbhanga and Muzaffarpur. Impact and scale of flooding are likely to increase over the following days reported by the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD).

The IMD is forecasting that the north eastern states are likely to experience enhanced rainfalls with isolated heavy to very heavy rain in Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura from 9 to 16 July 2019. The IMD report has been prepared for reference/information to Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA), IRCS districts branches, Red Cross volunteers from affected districts, and news agencies.

The Government of India has taken immediate action with regards to the floods where relief camps and distribution centres have been set up by administration in the affected districts, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) have been deployed for rescue operation. Local authorities are providing medical services and as well as food and household items distribution to the affected people such as rice, lentils, salt, wheat bran, palm sugar (gur), flat rice (chira), baby food, candles, match boxes, mosquito coils, tarpaulins, and sanitary napkins. On top of these, the local administration is providing green grass for cattle and animal feed to sustain the livestock belonging to the affected people.

In Bihar, NDRF and SDRF have been deployed to flood-affected districts to carry out the relief and rescue operations. The government has established 152 camps and 151 community kitchens at the flood affected districts.