Guwahati (Assam), : Incessant rains have wreaked havoc in Assam with its villages, towns and cities situated in the low foothills of the state reeling from floods for over a month.
Authorities have come up with series of initiatives to provide relief to thousands of affected people. Jorhat district is said to be the worst-hit.
It is estimated that around 86,000 people have been affected by the floods and a majority of them are living in the worst-affected districts of Lakhimpur and Jorhat.
The Jorhat District administration has set up seven relief camps in the affected areas and is providing all basic requirements like medicines, food items etc to the victims. Search and rescue teams have been deployed in the worst-hit villages along the Bhogdoi river.
“Initially, we started with four relief camps, but now, it has increased till seven. We are trying to persuade the people to come to the relief camps. We have enough relief camps, we can provide enough accommodation, but people are reluctant to leave their homes,” said Roshni Aparanji Korati, IAS, Deputy Commissioner, Jorhat.
The Brahmaputra River is flowing above the danger level in Guwahati. Predicting the volatile trend of the Brahmaputra and its tributaries, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams are positioned in the vulnerable areas.
Besides that relief material like medicines, foods, and relief camps are also provided to the affected people under the initiative of State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) in collaboration with National disaster Respond Fund (NDRF).
The Central Water Commission officials are also keeping a close watch on overflow of rivers in the state.
“We are using fully automatic water level controller with up and down tank sensor. It basically helps to measure the water level. This machine we basically run during October month to measure the level of Water,” said Sadikul Haque, SDWA Central Water Commission.
Over 1 lakh people in 213 villages in Gohpur , Nagaon, Golaghat, Morigaon, Biswanath and Barpeta districts were marooned by floods till date.
“I recently had a caesarean section and I have somehow rescued myself from the extreme level of water with my baby. Our house has been swept out by incessant rain. Government has provided us with certain requirements like milk, rice, biscuits, tea and some medical facilities,”said Bibi Gogoi, a flood victim.
Assam, with its vast network of rivers, is prone to natural disasters like flood and soil erosion which leaves a negative impact on overall development of the state. (ANI)