Bihar was affected with a major tragedy in the month of August, 2008 due to floods. The flood was caused by breach in the Kosi embankment in Nepal. The breach of about 1, 800 meter led to floods in 5 major districts of Bihar namely Arariya, Supol, Purniya, Saharsa and Madhepura. More than ten lakh people were displaced and a major loss occurred to property, human life and live stock.

Bela village is geographically located at the northern tip of Bihar as a small strip of land with Nepal on three sides. After breaking the embankment in Nepal, flood water gushed out of Kosi river, changed the course and hit the Bela village first as it entered India. Although there was no causality in terms of death of people as the floods came in during the day, but the village got submerged in water and hutments of villagers were badly destroyed alongwith their belongings and livestock. The village has a population about 8000 people in several wards and localities. The worst effected was Bengali ward inhabited by 200 families with a population about 1,500 to 2000. This Bengali locality (ward) is inhabited by refugees of Bengal who migrated from Bangladesh in 1947. Indian Govt. had given them land of about 1.5 acre to each family and agriculture, than onwards was only livelihood means for them. Most of the families fall under below poverty line as per govt. parameter. Very few people are educated above 10th standard. There is no electricity in the village having two middle level schools and no pucca road. During floods the road, whatever condition it was got washed away and the village got cut off from the rest of India. The village was inaccessible from India by road for almost 4 months. The village is strategically located as the national highway of Nepal is just 5 Kms away. Population is mixed in nature with Hindus of all castes and Muslims living in the village. The place is very important from the security point of view as it shares a porous border with Nepal. If the villagers loose their confidence in Indian Government and Institutions it will not take them long to fall pray to anti national elements.

Due to the inaccessibility of village Government relief and NGOs could not reach this village. The villagers could also not move out to camps set up by Govt. and NGOs. Few volunteers could manage to reach this village that too via Nepal. The Seema Suraksha Bal ( S S B ) jawans who also camp in the village and got submerged provided them some support alongwith these volunteers in moving out to other part of village which was on a higher level. In absence of relief material the villagers had to live without shelter from days together and with very little food. Some of the villagers had to live without food for days together. After water receded the villagers went back to their places and have repaired their huts.

Bhaskar Foundation came to know about the tragedy faced by the village Bela and made a trip to the village to assess the situation. It was felt that a long term rehabilitation and livelihood project should be undertaken so that a sustainable self employment and income source is provided to the inhabitants. The most affected locality in this village is the Bangali locality(Ward). People in this village are in a bad shape and their survival is a big challenge. Pain and anguish of people could be seen clearly from their faces. After a complete assessment of a situation onsite and keeping in view our resources we have come to a conclusion that following steps need to be taken to save this village in two phases To provide affected people with immediate relief and also to undertake some activity for their long time livelihood the following activity is proposed to be carried out :-

• The school premises will be made the centre of activity by sprucing up of the existing building. We also propose to create a temporary shed made out of bamboo. This shade will provide us space for stay of some project coordinators. The same infrastructure will be used for creating skill development and training facilities for the villagers.
• We propose to undertake a labour oriented project of making road or embankment so that villagers can contribute in terms of labour and in return we provide food to them.
• We shall provide seed for villagers on loan so that they can cultivate crop and vegetables.
• Training programmes in disciplines like Tailoring, Agarbati, Candle and Papad making, bamboo craft etc will be provided. Material will be provided on loan so the money thus recovered can again be used for increasing the scope of project.
• One city center will be created for these people in District headquarter Arariya. We have been provided one place by Vinobhbhave Bhoodan Kendra. To develop this centre where we plan to spruce up the existing shed within this complex and furnish it so that the people from Bela can use it for marketing their products in the city and in the other parts of Bihar.

Through above activities we shall be able to provide immediate relief to villagers, and at the same time create a long term livelihood avenue for them.

"Mr. A. Parsuramen, Director & UNESCO Representative to Bhutan, India, Sri Lanka and Maldives giving away Water Award 2009-10 to Mr. Sanjay Ganjoo, CEO, Bhaskar Foundation for Commendable Water NGO - Water Education for outstanding contribution in field of Water supported by UNESCO, DJB and Water Digest".