Update on Cyclone Aila, West Bengal, Sitrep 4- Save children

Society Registration No: S/51101/2004Flooding in West Bengal caused by Tropical Cyclone Aila hasleft thousands of children without food, water or shelterRecent flooding in Southern West Bengal due to thetropical cyclone Aila has left 125 people dead andover 5.4 million people displaced. Thousands ofchildren have been affected with little access to food,clean water, healthcare or sanitation facilities.According to Government of West Bengal estimates,25,000 villages in 16 districts were immediately inundatedwhen the embankments breached allowing salt water toflood the area. This situation has left hundreds ofthousands of children at risk of becomingmalnourished – thousands of families are struggling tosurvive on handfuls of salt water and rice. Access toclean drinking water is also extremely scarce asground water sources have been contaminated by saltwater. Medical supplies are in very short supply, leavingchildren unable to access life‐saving care as water borneand respiratory diseases are on the rise.People have lost everything they own. The floodinghas left 750,000 houses severely damaged or destroyed ‐as a result, families are crowding in temporary shelters,such as schools and mosques.The saltwater intrusion has destroyed the paddy crop and rendered the land unusable for one or two years.The floods have washed away seeds stock, killed livestock, and wiped out all stocks of freshwater fish andshrimp. Most people were unable to save anything ‐ food, animals, clothes, cooking materials, school booksor other belongings – before their homes were inundated and, in many cases, destroyed. Local officials saythat such a catastrophic disaster was never anticipated. With food, water, clothes and medical supplies inshort supply, children and their families are desperately in need of our help. Save the Children isappealing for public support as it launches its relief operation to assist those in desperate need.Farida’s storyFarida is a 15 year old girl from Rajbati, a village in Sandeshkhali I“My house was completely destroyed. There was water everywhere. We stayed in a relief campthe first two days. But there was no water to drink and it was stinking as there was no toilet. Wemoved out and are now living on the side of the road. I have no clean clothes to wear. I don’tknow what has happened to my friends. We went to the same learning centre in the village and Ido not know where they are now.”The Block Development Officer for Sandeshkhali 2 told Save the Children that in hisblock 180 square kilometres out of 195 is under water. He said that the area had neverseen a disaster of this magnitude before.Society Registration No: S/51101/2004The difference you could makeSave the Children is already present in the Sandeshkhali 1 and 2 blocks of North 24 Parganas district.We are poised and ready to respond with essential supplies to reach out to 2000 families spread across 15relief camps from 40 villages. With your support, we will:· Distribute 2000 hygiene kits – each kit will last a family of 6 for 30 days and contains a range ofsupplies including soap, mosquito nets, sanitary napkins, chlorine tablets and oral rehydration salts.We will put these kits together in Kolkata and store them in our warehouse in Sandeshkhalli 1,reaching over 12,000 beneficiaries.· Supply tarpaulins and bamboo so families can build temporary shelters to protect themselvesfrom the expected rains.· Clean groundwater sources and construct raised platforms for the tube wells to ensure thatwhen it floods again they will be well protected and will not get contaminated so communities cangather and store clean drinking water and protect children from contracting waterborne diseases.· Distribute clothes ‐ most people escaped to the relief camps with only the pair of soaked clothesthey were wearing the day they fled from their villages eight days ago. Most people have worn thesame clothes for more than a week.· Create child friendly spaces at the relief camps where people are crowded so children can play,continue with temporary education and be kept safe. During emergency situations such as these,children are most vulnerable to being trafficked to large cities as cheap labour.One villager said, “It will take several years for us to recover from these losses.My children have lost all the books that we bought them. I am not sure how they willbe able to continue their education next year.”The difference you could make to children’s lives· INR 1200 is the cost of one hygiene kitINR 24,00,000 could provide 2000 hygiene kits so that families stay clean andhealthy· INR 2000 is the cost of materials including such as rope, bamboo and tarpaulins for one temporary shelterINR 40,00,000 could provide 2000 vulnerable families with essential shelter· INR 12,000 is the cost to create a raised platform and surrounding walls to protect one tube wellINR 48,00,000 could ensure that 40 villages do not suffer from a watershortage due to contamination when it floods next· INR 200 is the cost of a set of clothesINR 12,00,000 could provide 6000 children with one set of clean clothes· INR 15,000 is the cost of building one child friendly spaceINR 22,50,000 could ensure 15 relief camps have a space where children can besafe·Society Registration No: S/51101/2004With your support, we can provide life‐saving support tochildren affected by the flooding in West Bengal.Thank you for any support you can give.Save the Children has been working in 42 villages in Sandeshkhali blocks I & II, the worst‐affected blocks in the district of North24 Parganas, for five years, running an innovative and highly successful anti‐child trafficking project. Unfortunately none ofthese centres can be currently located and are assumed to have been washed away like thousands of other houses in thesevillages.Many of these children have now lost their homes and possessions. Their families have lost all means of creating a livelihoodand the training centres that we had set up have been destroyed. There is a grave risk that these children will once again beforced into work or trafficked as their families take desperate measures in order to survive.These two blocks were the base of our success in terms of creating a replicable “community‐based child protection mechanism”.Under this programme we had assisted more than 2000 children from all over India, some previously engaged in domestic workand others victims of trafficking to reintegrate with their families and to resume formal education or start vocational training.Our team met many of these children on the morning of the cyclone for a training session. By evening, many of these childrenhad been separated from their families and had lost everything. Many children have gone missing.Save the Children is the largest independent agency on the ground that responds toemergencies with a focus on children. We have been working in India for over 60 years andcurrently have programmes in 12 states focusing on child protection, quality inclusiveeducation, child survival and child centred disaster risk reduction.To learn more about the work that we do in India, please visit www.savethechildren.in