World Vision deploys emergency relief teams to help families stranded by "worst flooding in a decade"

GAUHATI, India (July 3, 2012) — Two emergency relief teams have deployed to Dhemaji District in northeast India to help relocate the people stranded in the flood zone, says humanitarian relief group World Vision. Over 400 families have already been relocated into two government-run schools that are located on higher ground. World Vision aid workers have set up two power generators and established a Child-Friendly Space for more than 500 children to give them a safe place to stay in the midst of the disasters.

At least 77 people have been killed and nearly two million people displaced by heavy rains that caused flooding in the northeastern state of Assam. World Vision relief teams in the area are also providing water, food and health services to those affected by the disaster.

“This is one of the worst disasters this region has seen in nearly a decade,” said Kunal Shah, associate director, humanitarian emergency affairs of World Vision in India. “The surge of water in the Brahmaputra River washed out a number of villages, damaging crops and drowning valuable livestock. The flood waters have also contaminated local water sources, leaving children and families without adequate water to drink.”

World Vision has also dispatched water purification systems to the affected communities to help provide safe drinking water.

The timing and amount of rainfall is critical in India, as 55 percent of the agriculture industry is rain-fed. Assam’s annual monsoon season has just started, and the region’s rainfall is already 31 percent higher than normal. This could also poorly affect this year’s harvest.

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