Australia
India Floods
It is essential that we meet children’s immediate needs, providing them with shelter to protect them from the elements and food and clean water to keep them healthy.
- Donate online
- Download the
India Floods Emergency Donation Form [Adobe PDF, 89 Kb] and post it or fax it to us - Call our toll free number 1800 76 00 11 and donate over the phone
- Send us a cheque/money order payable to Save the Children Australia. Forward it to India Floods Emergency Appeal, Save the Children, PO Box 340, Fitzroy VIC 3065. Make sure to enclose your name and address for receipting purposes.
Children who fled their homes to escape floods in northern India are dying from disease because of dirty contaminated water and a lack of decent toilets and washing facilities in the camps where they are living.
Save the Children has heard reports that 32 children have died from diarrhoea, vomiting and fever in Araria and Sapaul camps in Bihar province. We fears that without more help this number will rise.
Thomas Chandy, head of Save the Children in India said: “Conditions in these flood camps are terrible. People use the same stagnant water for bathing as well as washing their clothes and utensils. With little else to occupy them, children are playing around in this water and inadvertently drinking it and getting sick. ”
It is now three weeks since floodwaters first breached the banks of the Kosi River and many areas are still submerged. Families have officially been warned that they shouldn’t return home while the threat of flooding continues, even in areas where water levels are receding. The Indian meteorological office predicts further rain in the next few days.
Meanwhile, the scale of the disaster becomes increasingly serious as the number of people forced to leave their homes by the floods rises to five million, including three million children. This is six times the number of people that were made homeless by the cyclone in Myanmar four months ago and 7.5 times the number of people in India that were made homeless after the tsunami in 2004.
Margaret Douglas, CEO of Save the Children Australia, said: “The reported death toll is not high, but the number of people affected by this flooding is on an unimaginable scale. We are facing a huge task and desperately need more money to enable us to reach more of those children who are living in terrible conditions. We must act now to prevent the death-toll rising further as children succumb to disease, hunger or exposure while they wait.”
Children in Bihar were already some of the poorest and most vulnerable even before the floods. Over a million children were working and 600,000 women were married young, before their 18th birthday. Around 56% of children in the state were underweight and 85 children per 1,000 die before they reach their fifth birthday, more than the Indian average of 76 per 1,000.
Ms Douglas continues: “Severe shortage of food, unhygienic conditions and lack of clean drinking water and malnutrition due to the disaster would further increases the levels of hunger and the death rate.”
Save the Children has launched an appeal for the children of Bihar and has already begun responding to the emergency by providing food, water purification tablets, tarpaulins for shelter and medical assistance.
Children remain vulnerable
In an emergency children are always the most vulnerable. Due to the flooding children have been left with no shelter, clean water, food or medical care and we are deeply concerned about the effect that this will have on their health, nutrition, protection and education.
We have found that thousands of hectares of farm land and crops have been submerged under water destroying livelihoods and leaving a shortage of food.
Save the Children is particularly concerned about the rapid rise in food prices in the area, with parents who have left their homes struggling to buy enough food to feed their families.
This is a dire situation for children who face a lack sanitation in temporary shelters and contaminated flood water, making them susceptible to illness and water borne diseases.
We are also deeply concerned about child protection. The number of vulnerable children increases during an emergency, as they can become displaced from their homes and separated from their families. At this time they are particularly vulnerable to child trafficking
Children’s education is also suffering as schools which have not been flooded are being used as temporary shelters for displaced families.
Save the Children is responding
We're distributing food, water purification tablets, and shelter materials, and providing medical assistance.
Child friendly spaces will be established, where children can get support to overcome the emotional stress of the disaster and play in a safe environment, protected from the risk of trafficking.
How you can help
It is essential that we meet children’s immediate needs, providing them with shelter to protect them from the elements and food and clean water to keep them healthy.
- Donate online
- Download the India Floods Emergency Donation Form [Adobe PDF, 89 Kb] and post it or fax it to us
- Call our toll free number 1800 76 00 11 and donate over the phone
- Send us a cheque/money order payable to Save the Children Australia. Forward it to India Floods Emergency Appeal, Save the Children, PO Box 340, Fitzroy VIC 3065. Make sure to enclose your name and address for receipting purposes.