Indian flood victims face food shortages

Indian flood victims face food shortages
Story Highlights
Indian flood victims now face food shortages

450,000 families displaced after dam in Nepal broke on August 18

2.7 million people in 1,600 villages might have been affected

Agencies scramble to help, but damaged infrastructure hampers efforts

PURNIA, India (CNN) -- The piercing wails from little lungs fill the air at this makeshift relief camp in Bihar's flood-ravaged Purnia district.


The babies scream for food. Their mothers cradle them in loving arms but cannot soothe the hunger in their bellies.

Food is scarce for the hundreds of people who have sought shelter here. They huddle under tents made from blankets and propped up by bamboo stems.

And when aid workers ration out rice, they quickly devour it.

"We ran for our lives and now we are dying here for food," said Bachni Devi, who arrived at the camp with ten small children and a pregnant daughter in tow.

"We are dying even for clothes. All our animals are also dying."

Government officials say that 450,000 families have been displaced after a dam in Nepal broke on August 18. It breached the eastern embankment of the Kosi River, a waterway that straddles the India-Nepal border.

Water flushed through the breach so forcefully that the river changed course in Bihar, gobbling up thousands of villages and marooning residents on thin strips of dry land in India and Nepal.
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