Millions affected by the floods in India

NEW DELHI, INDIA, – UNICEF and its partners are reaching out to millions of people in the Indian states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Uttarakhand as flooding continues to drive people from their homes.

Close to 1.7 million people in the Indian state of western Uttar Pradesh have been affected due to heavy rainfall and floods in the major rivers of the state. In Bihar, the breach of support embankments of river Gandhak has resulted in the flooding of thirty-five villages in Gopalganj and Siwan districts. In Uttarakhand, close to half a million people in 369 villages across the state have been affected. A number of roads including national highways have been damaged or blocked due to landslides.

The central government has rushed in relief to the affected areas and deployed battalions of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) to Haridwar and Rishikesh in Uttarakhand, Gopalgunj in Bihar and Rampur in Uttar Pradesh. The State Government in Uttar Pradesh has setup 276 relief posts to distribute food and health supplies.

UNICEF Response

UNICEF is working closely with the government and has supplied tarpaulin sheets, jerry cans, water purification tablets, ORS packets, mosquito nets and bleaching powder to more than 8,000 displaced families in Uttar Pradesh. UNICEF has pre-positioned its supplies in ten high risk districts to help 10,000 families.

After receiving a request from the state government, UNICEF sent 282 bags of bleaching powder, 208,000 water purifying tablets, 5,000 Oral Rehydration Salt (SRS) sachets, 1,000 hygiene kits and soap to the Gopalganj district of Bihar.