Nearly 15 houses and a government school have been damaged in the past two days due to the erosion caused by the turbulent Gandak River at Sakhawa Tok village in Areraj, officials said on Thursday.
Pawan Kumar Jha, circle officer (CO), Areraj, said the exact number of the houses which have collapsed due to erosion would only be known after the water level recedes. “As per the information available with us, approximately 15 houses and parts of a primary school at Sakhawa Tok have collapsed between August 31 and September 1,” said Jha.
“No loss of lives has been reported so far. The villagers were shifted to safer places after they were alerted by the district administration,” the CO said.
A village resident, identified as Yogindar Yadav (60), said, “The way the erosion happened, we knew that collapse was imminent. Therefore, we left the house about ten days back with whatever household articles we could take.” He has taken shelter in a makeshift tent on an embankment in neighbouring Bhartoli village under Danapur panchayat in Gopalganj.
Kamendra Mani Tiwari, the former village head and representative of village chief Anisha Devi, said this has put the total number of houses that have collapsed between 40 and 50. “Villagers have been facing the threat of displacement since the 1990s because of regular flooding. Several families have been displaced since a village called Sakhawa was engulfed by Gandak in 2005,” said Tiwari.
{{/usCountry}}Kamendra Mani Tiwari, the former village head and representative of village chief Anisha Devi, said this has put the total number of houses that have collapsed between 40 and 50. “Villagers have been facing the threat of displacement since the 1990s because of regular flooding. Several families have been displaced since a village called Sakhawa was engulfed by Gandak in 2005,” said Tiwari.
{{/usCountry}}When contacted, Sanjay Kumar, district education officer (DEO), East Champaran confirmed that parts of Rajkiya Prathamik Vidyalaya at Sakhawa Tok had collapsed. “We will get the condition of the school examined after the floods,” said the DEO.
As many as 83,000 people dwelling in low lying areas of East Champaran and 6,000 people in Gopalganj are still affected by floods. “We are running eight community kitchens in the district,” said Dr Nawal Kishor Choudhary, district magistrate (DM), Gopalganj district.
“People living in parts of Sangrampur, Kesariya, Areraj, Sagauli, Chirraiya and Banjariya in East Champaran have been affected by the flood. Six community kitchens have been set up for them,” said Anil Kumar, additional district magistrate (ADM) and in charge of disaster management.
Bhaskar, CO at Nautan in West Champaran described the situation as under control. “Water has receded fast,” he said.