Floods in India – a YouTuber's call for help

Photo posted on Kosi Catastrophe by Chandan.

Torrential monsoon rains in Bihar, north-east India, have already caused several hundred deaths since they began in mid-August. A YouTuber in the area tries to raise the alarm.

The north-eastern state of Bihar is one of the poorest of the country. In two weeks, several hundred of the region's villages have been submerged underwater after torrential rainfall transformed the river Kosi into a mile-wide delta. According to press agencies, at least 500,000 people have been evacuated by the army and housed in refugee camps. Four-hundred-thousand others remain in completely devastated areas, and in danger of epidemics bred in the stagnant waters.

Over a week ago a webuser posted these videos on YouTube to alert the authorities and the international community about the looming medical disaster. His outlook is bleak, and far removed from the media's estimated death toll, which talks of under a thousand deaths.

Video collected by one of our Indian Observers

Our Observer Arnab Das sent us this video filmed by one of his friends, Rajeev Kumar in Naughachia, Bhagalpur district in Bihar.

"Whoever’s reading this, please convey the message to the government, who are busy drinking mineral water in their air-conditioned rooms"

Ashish, 27, works in the pharmaceutical trade. He says he went to the disaster area to take part in the rescue mission. His accounts were posted between 23 and 29 August.

Posted by rajabets, 23 Aug. 08.

The condition of people struck by the flood has worsened. They're saying that 15,000 to 20,000 people have died and many more are near death due to lack of food and water and from disease. Only a few hundred have been able to reach the relief camps or dry areas. Until now there is negligible help from the government. Even the food supplied in the relief camps is by the local people of Forbesganj and the outskirts, whose support has been praiseworthy.

We went to the relief camp with food and medicine and could not withstand the heat of the sun and the horrible smell. Think about those people who are on their roofs for six days without food and without sanitary water. They are forced to drink flood water. We found that a few men who could swim were coming to the relief camp to fetch food and drugs for their children and swimming back. Thousands of people who're taking shelter on tilla (land surrounded by floods) are losing their lives in groups of hundreds when water currents cause land-slides on the sides [of the tillas, submerging them under water]. This information comes from those people who could swim to the relief camps.

Whoever's reading this, please convey the message to the government, who are busy drinking mineral water in their air-conditioned rooms."

Posted by rajabets, 29 Aug. 08.

Things are getting worse. Sursar has been made a model rescue camp for everyone to see and feel good about the relief effort, but only those who have been into the interior areas can understand how panicky the situation is. People are waiting for rescue or for death - whichever comes first. If you're reading this please spread the message. The area needs help very badly. People of Mahatawa are taking food for those stuck in water and without food for the last five days. They have swum about 1.5 miles inward."