How not to manage disaster relief
Victims of last year’s flash floods in Leh find little use for the costly prefabricated rooms they were provided as disaster relief under CSR schemes. Their breath turned to ice in them. They have begun to rebuild their mud homes which insulate them against the extreme cold
Famine-like conditions in Aila-affected areas
In its continuing coverage of the cyclone-affected Sunderbans, Infochange finds some 700 families in the K-plot island close to starvation. Nothing grows here any more, and rice is priced at Rs 22/kg. Villagers are desperate for work under NREGS
'Give us food or jail us'
Four months after Cyclone Aila, surveys reveal that only 1.38 kg of foodgrain are being distributed per adult per month, against a Famine Code requirement of 12 kg per head. No compensation for destroyed homes is forthcoming yet, and little work is being provided under NREGS. There is a dangerous unrest growing at state apathy, according to this special report from affected districts in West Bengal
Kosi tragedy poses serious livelihood challenge
Five months after the Kosi deluge of August 2008, fields remain waterlogged, boats are still plying in paddy fields and thousands have lost their livelihoods as their cultivable lands have been permanently ruined. Around 500,000 people are believed to have migrated in search of livelihood
The politics after the flood
While the Centre and the Bihar state wrangle over who should repair the destroyed embankments, those displaced by the recent floods seem destined to spend the winter in the relief camps
After the flood
A large majority of the flood-affected at Behli and other camps set up by the administration in Bihar are women and children. Our correspondent travelled to the worst-affected districts in Bihar to find out how the administration is coping with a disaster that has affected 3 million
Letter from Dhaka: Year of the rats
The bamboo has flowered, rats have invaded the Chittagong Hill Tracts. The indigenous people here are suffering severe food shortages. Around 600,000 have left their homes in search of food
A lot more boats but very little fish
Three years after the tsunami there are a lot more boats in areas affected by the disaster. But yields are low and there's a new fear of the sea
Wanted: Post-disaster housing audit
Three years after the tsunami, hundreds of ugly cement houses have been built along the Nagapattinam coast by different NGOs. Many are sub-standard, some actually below sea level, many unoccupied. Why do we keep repeating the mistakes of Latur, Gujarat, Orissa?
Falling off the map: Orissa's submerged villages
In 1930, land records show an area of 320 sq km for the Satabhaya cluster of seven villages near Paradip in Orissa. Land records for 2000 indicate that this area has been reduced to 155 sq km. Five of the seven villages have been swallowed by the sea. Several other villages in Orissa are likely to suffer the same fate. Is Orissa paying the price of climate change? This special series by Richard Mahapatra investigates