Petition on Bihar Floods disaster

Relief operations need to be multiplied tenfold in Bihar

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Date September 01 2008

To,
Dr. Manmohan Singh.
Hon'ble Prime Minister of India -
NewDelhi

CC :
Shri Nitish Kumar
Honbl Chief Minister of Bihar

Dear Prime Minister Singh ,

We as concerned citizens located in India, US and elsewhere are very alarmed at the grave flood situation in Bihar. We are working closely with organizations and individuals mobilizing relief efforts in the affected areas. The unanimous opinion received by us is that the central and state government relief efforts are only a small fraction of what this unprecedented situation demands.

Even after the Union government declared this as a national calamity, the administration's response to the tragedy has been woefully inadequate. We submit that the government should immediately resolve to increase the relief efforts ten-fold to save the lives of the citizens.

The stark facts are that more than 15 lakh people are still stranded waiting for rescue, and the floodwaters are still rising and inundating new areas. The following data released by the government on August 30th lays bare the gross inadequacy of the relief efforts.

District No of
Motorboats 		Total No of
Boats 		No of Villages
affected 		No of Peoples
affected
Supaul19272243893790
Madhepura242013781022000
Araria11707273351
Saharsa414462146000

Just 24 motorized boats in Madhepura to cover 378 villages with more than 10 lakh affected people - is this the best that India, the rising superpower, can spare for the lives of its citizens?

We make the following demands and intend to press them through the media also.

(1) Having declared the national calamity, the Centre should act on the provisions of the National Disaster Management Act and take charge of the operations.The state administration should strengthen the delivery efforts to ensure the rescue and relief efforts reach the people.
(2) Rescue operations need to be stepped up tenfold, particularly in the blocks of Murliganj, Kumarakhand and Bharganwa.
(3) Helicopters and the army need to be mobilized in a much bigger way.
(4) Authentic data should be provided about death toll of humans and animals.
(5) No hasty steps should be taken for river management, and comprehensive plans should be made after studying the failure of current approach.

We urge our government to recognize that the scale of the disaster is similar to the Tsunami of 2004 and Hurricane Katrina but the scale of relief efforts outrageously lagging behind.We hope that your administration's response to the Bihar floods does not become a historical failure like the Bush administration's response to Hurricane Katrina.


Sincerely,
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