South India floods
Floods force families to live on roads

Around three million people lost their homes to the recent floods in east, northeast and southwest India.

Nagulki is16 and along with her brother, parents and grandmother has been forced to live on the side of the road for the last fortnight in Gajulupetta, in the district of Vijayawada.

“I feel very scared and unsafe living on the roads,” says Nagulki.

Many homeless families like Nagulki’s have put up small shelters with tarpaulins, mats and bed-sheets provided by World Vision and are living with the few items they were able to save from the floods. Nagulki’s family has used two cots and a blanket to make their shelter. One cot has been placed as a sidewall and the other is used to sleep on, while a blanket hangs above their heads serving as a roof.

Nagulki’s father is a taxi driver and her mother works as a cleaner in a local school. They cannot afford to get a new home immediately. They will continue to live on the roadside until they can find an alternative.

“The most vulnerable are the ones who have totally lost their houses and are left without any means to rebuild,” says Franklin Joseph of World Vision India.

Being forced to live on the roads brings forth a lot of other issues, especially for children. Young girls like Nagulki are highly vulnerable while the lack of shelter exposes the families to the traffic flow.

“I feel scared and the noise from the traffic does not allow us to sleep at all,” says Nagulki. The safety of children is a huge issue; many drivers at night drive their vehicles drunk and people who sleep on the roads are vulnerable to accidents.

While the Indian government has announced immediate compensation for these families, the amount is too meagre to build a house from scratch.

Like Nagulki, Narendran too lives on the road now. His family’s house is also completely destroyed. His father Sudhakar is a taxi driver who can’t afford to pay for the taxi that he rents out at a daily cost. His mother, who usually works in the fields nearby as a daily wage labourer, planting and sowing, will not be able get a job until at least January because the floods have left the land unsuitable for cultivation.

“The need of the hour is to start ‘Cash for Work’ programmes and provide temporary shelters that can help the families to stay together in their villages and homes,” says Franklin Joseph from World Vision India.