Caritas flood relief reaches Assam’s last village

Caritas India has covered 16 villages across the 2 districts of Chirang and Kokrajhar.

Guwahati:  Volunteers and staff of Caritas India implemented ‘direct cash support’ to 80 families in Kashibari village. Close to the borders of West Bengal, Kashibari in Assam is among the last villages hit by floods this year.

With no visible roads, Kashibari has largely remained cut off from developmental activities. “We had to decide whether or not to approach the village,” informed Thangsha, Caritas officer facilitating the response in Assam.

He led a 5 member team to the area across the overflowing Sankosh river for vulnerability assessment; a standard operating procedure Caritas adheres to before any relief plan is implemented.

“We took the local boat and walked over a vast sandy surface for the next 50 minutes. Utter misery aggravated by the monsoon flood greeted us. No agency had reached this part of the state,” Thangsha said.

The direct cash support kitty of Rs. 800 per family is aimed at giving freedom to buy the basic and urgent need of these families.

Most people would like to use the money to fetch medicine, food and bamboos, explained Bablu Sarkar, Caritas India officer who interacted with the beneficiaries during the cash distribution.

Bamboos are largely used in these areas in building huts. In this difficult time when food stock was lost to floods, the cash kitty will enable villagers to buy food and ration from the local weekly market, Sarkar said.

He spoke profusely about the help his team got from Mr. Chilarai Rabha - the head man of the West Kashibari village and the community. He said that without the help of the local people, such relief works are impossible given the local dynamics hyped by two incidents of shootouts leading to human casualty.

Overall situation in Assam seem to have improved although people fear the last lash of the monsoon around September. Situation in Kokrajhar, Jorhat, Morigaon, and Goalpara districts continue to be grim. Death toll so far is at 34.

Caritas India has handed Direct Cash Support to 1000 affected families; mostly in the hands of the women. It has covered 16 villages across the 2 districts of Chirang and Kokrajhar.

Support from Indo-Global Social Service Society and Change Alliance was phenomenal in carrying out this mission. Caritas India’s local network partners who are engaged presently are Bonagaingaon Diocesan Social Service Society, Women Development Center and Seva Kendra Dibrugarh.

Ground work for more relief has already been initiated in Jorhat, Morigaon, Dibrugarh and Lakhimpur, informed Thangsha.

HCL has also come forward to support Caritas in Assam and Bihar to the tune of nearly Rs.2.8 million in the sector of health, informed Debangshu Ganguly, heading corporate relations at Caritas India.

Source: Caritas India