1999 FLOODS OF WEST BENGAL
Category |
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Floods. |
Account |
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On Thursday, 23 September, as night fell,
the leaden skies opened up above West Bengal, unleashing
a torrent on a scale not seen in the past two decades.
In just 12 hours, West Bengal experienced 320 mm of rain.
Homes and warehouses were flooded; power cuts and communication
breakdowns were widespread; roads and railways were closed;
Calcutta and 15 of the 17 districts in West Bengal were
completely paralysed. |
Area affected |
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The State of West Bengal including the
city of Calcutta. |
Casualties |
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20 people were reported drowned. |
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HELP
BY BAPS ORGANISATION
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center
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BAPS center in Calcutta was submerged under 3 feet
of water for 24 hours. There was no drinking water.
Power supply and communications were also disrupted.
However, the BAPS center began relief operations immediately.
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Volunteers
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67 BAPS volunteers with local help provided relief.
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Area helped
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Calcutta and the town of Nabadwip.
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Appointed by
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The Municipal Authorities of Nabadwip.
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The BAPS center
in Calcutta split its relief operations into two parts.
One part provided relief in Calcutta and the other part
in Nabadwip in the District of Nadia.
IMMEDIATE HELP
In Calcutta, which was submerged under water, BAPS volunteers
waded through waist high water in the Bhawanipore area to quickly
help people and shopkeepers remove goods and valuables to safer
heights.
FOOD DISTRIBUTION
It was announced that high tides in the River Hoogly would
keep Calcutta submerge for at least 24 hours. Rickshaw pullers
and footpath dwellers would face a bundle of problems especially
in cooking food at night.
BAPS immediately made arrangements to cook hot meals. Bringing
drinking water and large utensils from a kilometre away, sadhus
quickly prepared hot khichadi consisting of rice, dal and vegetables.
At 8:00 pm, BAPS sadhus and volunteers, wading through waist
high water and carrying utensils by hand, covered 8 roads in
the Bhawanipore locality. The team served khichadi to 455 rickshaw
pullers, road dwellers, slum dwellers and shopkeepers who had
not eaten the whole day.
CLEAN UP
The following day, when the waters receded, BAPS volunteers
went out again to help people clear mud and muck from their
premises in the Bhawanipore area of Calcutta.
RELIEF IN NABADWIP
Nabadwip, the birthplace of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in the district
of Nadia, was completely submerged under 7 feet of water by
the River Jalangi for over 8 days. More than 70% of the population
of Nabadwip was stranded in their homes. Many hadn't eaten
a hot meal in days. The only bit of relief these people had
received was dropped by the Indian Air Force.
On Sunday, 3 October,
BAPS volunteers reached Nabadwip using rowboats. To help
BAPS distribution work, local social and welfare workers
had conducted a survey of the whole town a day earlier.
On arrival, BAPS volunteers quickly split in to two teams
and set out distributing food grains to the needy. Distribution
was conducted by boats and sometimes by wading through chest
high waters. In total BAPS distributed food grains to 2,000
individuals in Nabadwip.
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