Bihar Flood Response 2020

Every year Bihar witnesses devastating floods that wreak havoc by causing extensive losses and deaths. The impact of the floods in 2020 has been exceptionally harsh because of the pandemic. The COVID 19 pandemic and the floods had made the possibility of bouncing back quite grim for most of these vulnerable households. The situation on the ground was reported to be very severe as most people had no access to resources, available cash for ration, or even any possibility of future livelihood opportunities.

PHIA worked in 10 villages of Nautan and Lauriya blocks in West Champaran district, Bihar to help the community bounce back through a project that aimed to deliver humanitarian aid as per the community’s needs through immediate UCTs for the worst affected sections of the target community and create a sustainable system of linking to government support schemes and policies.

In the intervention villages, communities of agricultural labourers, farmers and small-scale vendors were selected for UCT. We reached out to 484 families primarily agricultural labourers and had no source of income owing to the lockdown and floods situation. Apart from UCT, families were made aware of their rights and entitlements and were facilitated to apply and access entitlements.

Vision

Help the community bounce back by delivering humanitarian aid as per the community’s needs through immediate UCTs for the worst affected sections of the target community and create a sustainable system of linking to government support schemes and policies.

Key Objectives

• Identify the most vulnerable communities and support them with UCTs
• Create a database of affected communities and link them to government systems
• Awareness generation and facilitation to community for demanding their rights and entitlements