Every year monsoon brings misery to the people of Bihar, destroying hundreds of thousands of houses, livelihoods and lives. The most marginalised section including women, elders and children are most affected. Had there been timely sensitization and preparedness, lot many lives could have been saved.

Bihar is India’s most flood-prone state with 76% of the population in the North Bihar living under the threat of recurring floods. A majority of the rainfall in this region occurs during 3 monsoon months which increases the river water upto 50 times causing floods in Bihar. Annual flooding in Bihar accounts for about 30-40% of the flood damages in India; 22.1% of the total flood-affected population in India is reported to be located within the state of Bihar. 28 districts of Bihar fall under the most flood-prone districts. 

According to India Human Development Survey (IHDS-II), “women in India are more vulnerable because of cultural norms and the inequitable distribution of roles, resources, and power. Bihar had recorded the lowest IHDI and the second-largest number of female deaths from floods.

“Women and Children are most vulnerable; through mock drill, we are ensuring their safety,” says Savita Kumari, a Task force member of East Champaran trained under the Caritas India Global Program. The program is working towards Improving the disaster management system at the national, state and local levels by reducing the vulnerability of the population to disasters. 

Under the Global program India, 02 Partners MDSSS and BDSSS has observed the Flood Safety week (1st- 7th June) and conducted Samvad with the community on Flood Awareness and discussed preparedness at the community and individual level. Every year Bihar State Disaster Management Authority observe flood safety week to spearhead public awareness and preparedness. The main objective of this week is to make aware the stakeholders of flood preparatory measures, Flood Risk Management and advocate for mitigation and risk reduction measures through a collective effort of all the stakeholders at various levels.

In Supaul the Mega Block event (meso level) was observed at Bhaptiyahi Block on 3rd June 2022. This event was jointly organized with NDRF team Mr. Firoz Ahmed (Senior Inspector- Ganpat gang Supaul) and provided training to the community on Flood Preparedness plan like Keeping Food Survival Kit, Making Machan, Strengthen local warning system identification of safe shelter and preparing vulnerable list etc. followed with Do’s and Don’ts during a flood, First aid for snake bite cases, Demonstration and use of Emergency equipment’s. The session was attended by 330 Community members from 20 Villages. The presence of Circle offices of Bhaptiyahi block added value to the event. The Government officer appreciated the effort of disseminating a mass awareness message and ensuring the preparedness in Island villages of Block. The field team has organized 20 village Samvad under ‘#We4Resilience’ campaign and discussed preparedness and flood awareness.

Dinesh Yadav, a DRR member of SANPATHA, Supaul expressed, “this is the first time NDRF team has come to our village for awareness We are happy that such type of Programme is organized in our villages, and we got an opportunity. Now we have to sensitize other villagers.”

The programme was also observed in 02 Blocks Nawada and Sugauli of East Champaran District. The community have conducted a Mock Drill in 03 panchayat to demonstrate Evacuation in flood and waterlogged situations, especially for women and children, 37 females and 16 males performed the drill in Gandak river. The programme Involved Students in awareness generation on Flood preparedness 80 students from Global programme villages organized an awareness rally to communicate Do’s & don’ts on flood disasters followed by a message on the Safe keeping of important documents like immunization cards, doctor’s prescriptions, AADHAR cards, Ration Cards, certificates, Books, land record and other important documents. 50 villagers from the community Participated in First aid training and disseminated knowledge on the pre-flood family as well as community-level preparedness measures.

These events help the community to be better prepared for flood impacts. Theses Pre-monsoon events create stimulus and help to co-create a space of dialogue, to increase the resilience of the community by bringing all stakeholders for flood preparedness. The committee has plans to ensure village and family preparedness by covering all households in 40 targeted villages.