Parents search for missing children among raging floodwaters

3 September, 2:13 pm

By Kitkupar Shangpliang, World Vision India Communications Coordinator

Two young boys Pappu and Deepak, are missing after flood waters from the Kosi River ravaged their community nearly a week ago. The boys’ parents say they are starting to lose hope; neighbors say they suspect the raging waters have washed both of the boys away into the unknown.

As Piprahi, the father of the five, shared his worst fears, he took a piece of wrinkled paper from his shirt pocket and said, “Before the floods, I could reach them on this phone number. These days, the machine says the phone number is out of order.” Piprahi, a middle aged father, said he called the number at least thrice a day.

Piprahi’s other three children and wife could not comprehend how this happened. Weeping, Piprahi’s wife told World Vision staff member that she believed her “boys were fine”.

Economic poverty forced these parents to send their two boys Pappu, 14 and Deepak, 10 to work at a sweet shop 12 kilometers away from their village at Murliganj in eastern India. The boys were trustworthy; and because of that, the shop owner asked them to work late that fateful Sunday.

As the water rose to about six feet high, people in hundreds fled Murliganj city, late at night to seek shelter in nearby villages. The flood evacuees had no choice but to sleep on the streets with thousands of other people and animals. Witnesses in the area say they found no trace of the two boys.

Back home in the village, this family has lost everything – their ten quintal of rice, three goats and one cow were all washed away in an instant. When the family returns they expect to find their house heavily damaged by the floods.

World Vision has mobilised relief, including powdered pulses, flat rice, jaggery, candles and a match box and is assisting families like Piprahi’s living in the relief camps.

For now, the family is sheltering in a school turned relief camp in Saharsa town with 300 other families. The sanitation and hygiene facilities were not designed to handle the rush of people that have sought shelter here. Food and clean drinking water is also a major need inside the camp.

The family’s miraculous escape to the relief camp involved lengthy walking under the scorching midday sun. They were forced to hire a truck to transport the entire family for Rs.1200 (USD 30). Now the father, a poor village farmer, is deeply in debt. But all of that can be forgotten if only his two boys retun home safe. For now the search is on and the suffering continues not only for this family but tens of thousands of families like this one.

Some Facts & Figures:

• Two to three million affected
• WV relief reaches 1200 families
  
• 90+ deaths
• Children affected by water borne diseases
• WV India appealing for US$1 million
• World Vision India has identified the relief camps where it will provide assistance and aims to target 15,000 families. Distributions have begun in Saharsa relief camps where some 250 families received survival kits consisting of pulse, rice, jaggery (sugar), candles and matches. Cooked food for 600 families was also being served.