Real Risk

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expanses of land. Tree plantation has been taken up in these

villages to create such natural breakwaters, and about 7,500 horti-

cultural and commercial value trees have been planted. Each

family was given two fruit saplings and made responsible for

nurturing them, so as to own the venture. The commercially valu-

able trees can be sold and income earned, on condition that the

family replaces the cut tree. Further, to prevent floodwater from

logging in the villages, 13 culverts have been constructed to

provide an outlet.

Shelter

– Most people live in mud houses, which become

damaged due to standing floodwater, forcing displacement and

evacuation to safer sites. People are forced to live on embank-

ments and have to keep moving from one higher ground to

another; some are even forced to live in trees for a few days. Lack

of proper living conditions invariably leads to ill health. To enable

communities to live in temporary shelters on dry land, two exist-

ing evacuation centres were repaired and three new ones were

constructed in villages where such shelters did not exist. These

five sites have also been linked with an evacuation route to allow

quicker access to them. In some villages, existing houses were

strengthened with bamboo reinforcement and other houses were

raised above the highest flood level, making them less vulnerable

to inundation. So far, 402 houses have been made safe through

such means.

Preparedness

Early warning systems

– Flooding in these parts usually occurs

when Nepal releases its excess water into India. Before doing so

the Nepal Government warns the Indian Government, and this

warning is immediately passed down to the block level. The Block

Office (BO) then informs the ward members in the village through

the head of the Panchayat (the government body elected at village

level). When the information reaches the state headquarters at

Patna, a radio warning is sounded out through the All India Radio

Station at medium wave frequency 612. This radio warning

system is being strengthened among the communities through

awareness programmes.

Task force group formation and training

– Each village has

formed a task force of about 20-30 youths, depending on the size

of the village. Each task force conducts mock drills with other

members of the community once every three months, to create

village flood preparedness.

Disaster Mitigation Fund

– The structural assets created to

mitigate the impact of floods will, in the course of time, go

through wear and tear. In order to maintain these structures, the

community has created a Disaster Mitigation Fund, which will

also be used for relief operations. Presently, 14 DMCs are collect-

ing INR1-5 per family each month towards the fund. Ten DMCs

have opened bank accounts for the fund. In total, approximately

USD814 (INR35,000) has been deposited over a period of ten

months.

Community participation

Community participation, and not just involvement, is essential

to owning and sustaining a community-based initiative. This

project sought to ensure ownership through participation that is

evident in the various stages of the project cycle.

The community participated in the initial planning through a

PADR process and baseline survey, giving their time and sugges-

tions. The community selected the DMC members, who have

been involved in decision making and monitoring throughout

the project. The DMC takes decisions such as the type and site

of mitigation structures, beneficiaries for the shelter and agri-

culture inputs, and percentage of community contribution.

Community contribution is another aspect of these initiatives

which shows how much the community owns the project. In

Hanuman Nagar village the community constructed the road,

contributing 50 per cent of the labour cost, which was calculated

at the Government-approved minimum wage rate. Gandherian

Museri Tola provides a further example of community initiative.

Here, the community collected INR10 from each worker to

purchase a piece of land within the evacuation site. It is also

planned with the community to raise some of the existing tube

wells using contributions of INR5-10 from each family.

Linkages

Linking the community with the Government has allowed them

to seek and access various schemes and benefits. The village of

Rakhwari Museritola has been able to gain funds through the

Indira Awas Yogna – the government housing policy; and farmers

are being linked to the Agriculture Technology Management

Association for training in improved agriculture techniques for

sugar cane and wheat cultivation. Ghonghoria and Gandherian

villages were successful in obtaining land from the Panchayat for

use as evacuation sites; the DMC in Hanuman Nagar filed an

application with the Block Development Office (BDO) for provid-

ing a bridge to allow connectivity and easy escape; and some

women’s groups sought finances from the BDO towards agricul-

ture and livestock rearing.

Future plans

The project has now been running for one year. In subsequent

years, the plan is to create seed banks, provide livelihood assis-

tance to landless farmers through the provision of livestock,

encourage insurance of self and livelihood assets through aware-

ness creation and linking with insurance providers, and campaign

with the state government for community-friendly evacuation

sites and raised tube wells.

Raised tube wells

Photo: EFICOR