Lakhnaur gets multipurpose flood shelter to tackle disaster

A multipurpose flood shelter was recently opened in in Lakhnaur, Bihar to provide temporary shelter to flood-prone communities.

The flood shelter was constructed by the Evangelical Fellowship of India Commission on Relief (EFICOR), as part of its Community Based Disaster Risk Reduction project that started in 2008-09.

Currently in its fourth year, the project covers 50 villages in Lakhnaur Block, Madhubani district of Bihar. It was inaugurated by Sanjeev Hans (IAS), District Magistrate of Madhubani.

The project will be serving a population of 60,000 to 10,500 families. A large number of these families belong to scheduled castes and other backward classes, majority of them live below the poverty line.

A substantial number of people in rural Bihar live in mud houses that face high risk of damage during flood, forcing displacement and evacuation to safer sites.

People are forced to live on embankments and have to move to higher ground. The newly constructed shelter at Lakhnaur should now provide a place of refuge when hit by flood.

Lakhnaur village in Madhubani district is the poorest and most backward districts prone to floods and drought. The Lakhnaur project aims for safer and more resilient communities in flood prone areas in Madhubani district.

Dalit communities, women, adolescent girls and children suffer the most, having to take shelter along the embankments and rooftops. Further, food and drinking water becomes scarce forcing people to consume contaminated water.

EFICOR has constructed several multipurpose flood shelters for the flood-prone communities in Bihar.