OCHA Situation Report No. 8
Nepal: Koshi River Floods in Sunsari and Saptari
10 September 2008


Source:
UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

This situation report is based on information received from UN Agencies 
and humanitarian partners, government sources, and OCHA and UNDAC team 
members based in Sunsari and Saptari Districts.

I. Situation in Sunsari and Saptari Districts, Eastern Nepal

1) Flooding/Infrastructure damage and repairs: An estimated 80% of the 
Koshi River continues to flow through the gap in the embankment where the 
river breached its limits on 18 August. Four VDCs remain fully or 
partially submerged. The East-West highway is damaged for 14km, including 
1km completely washed away, and about 4km submerged in flood water, and 
thus remains impassable, effectively cutting off Eastern Nepal from the 
rest of the country. Although the water level has gone receded, the flood 
remains unmanageable unless the river can be redirected into its original 
course. The monsoon season is expected to last at least another month, and 
historically the worst floods have occurred in October.

2) An alternative road connection being constructed north of the barrage 
will allow the river to be crossed. The government has asked the army, in 
cooperation with the Department of Roads, to construct an alternative 
route from Kanchanpur in Saptari to Chatara in Sunsari. A number of small 
dirt roads will need widening and gravelling, and a ferry connection will 
be established at Chatara. The alternative route is scheduled to be opened 
within 2 months. The government also plans to establish a motorboat 
service from Bhantabari to Laukahi in Sunsari district free of cost for 
the general public.

3) The Government of Bihar (India) will handle the repair and 
reconstruction of the embankment. Indian engineers have been focusing on 
preventing a further collapse of the dams. After this stabilization phase, 
work will begin to dig a channel in the old river bed, to redirect the 
river back into its original course.

4) Displacement: Current assumptions remain that up to 70,000 people were 
displaced by the floods. In Saptari, a household survey conducted on 31 
August by Oxfam, UNICEF, WFP and UNFPA puts the total number of displaced 
at 4,022 families (27,812 persons).

5) Some returns have been reported over the past week, with certain camp 
populations decreasing by 30-40%. In VDCs south of the highway as many as 
13,000 Indians may have left Nepal to return to their land or seek 
assistance in India. Returns are impossible to verify however as 
assessments in areas of return have not taken place.

6) It is difficult to access the total displaced as there is a large 
influx from Birpur, Lalpur and Fatehpur in Bihar, whose actual number is 
unknown. The new registration to be done by NRCS and camp management 
volunteers is likely to give a more accurate figure. According to the 
figures given by the Saptari Chief District Officer on 8 September, about 
10,000 of the affected population living in temporary shelters and schools 
in Saptari are Indians and a further 5000-6000 displaced Indians live with 
host families.

II. Humanitarian Response

7) Ongoing and completed assessments: Recent assessments on the Saptari 
side include: (a) A Joint IRA by Oxfam, Caritas and partners; (b) a Rapid 
assessment by NRCS; (c) a joint household survey by Oxfam, UNICEF, UNFPA, 
WFP and their partners. The assessment covers details on disaggregated 
population by age and sex, place of origin, PLW and special needs, and 
livestock.

8) Southern part of Sunsari: An Interagency Assessment to Ramnagar Bhutaha 
and Narshinghaa Tappu VDCs (south of the highway) documented that host 
families and communities are finding it difficult to continue to provide 
support to those displaced. In Narshing, the community decided to evict 
IDPs from the local school (an unregistered camp). There is also pressure 
in registered camps to vacate schools.

9) The assessment confirmed concerns that high numbers of IDPs continue to 
receive little assistance. Indications are that 30-40% of families are 
hosting up to 10 people each, and resources are running out fast (food 
stocks, savings, fodder, etc). A number of displaced have already been 
effectively pushed out by host families without resources to support them, 
and are resorting to door-to-door begging.

10) Planned cross-sectoral inter-agency assessment: At the request of the 
Humanitarian Coordinator, a cross-sectoral IA assessment is planned for 
the coming week in both Saptiri and Sunsari districts. The assessment will 
focus at both household and community levels, and aims to provide a 
comprehensive analysis of needs and outstanding gaps across the various 
caseloads of vulnerable and affected people (IDPs in registered camps, 
IDPs with host families, IDPs without shelter and non-registered, and 
communities who have stayed in ? or returned to - their place of origin, 
also flood-affected).

Attachments:
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/retrieveattachments?openagent&docid=A229EB3D79EE47CE852574C000574E28&file=Full_Report.pdf

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