Oxfam calls for radical rethink of flood policies in South Asia

Some current flood defences exacerbate crisis

International development agency Oxfam today called for a radical rethink in the way South Asian governments implement flood defence and response policy.

In a report released today called Sink or Swim: Why Disaster Risk Reduction is central to surviving floods in South Asia, Oxfam says that some flood defences, such as the construction of river embankments, can make matters worse. In India's worse hit area, Bihar, embankments have nearly trebled the flood-prone area from 2.5 million hectares to 6.9 million hectares in the last 50 years. In Nepal culverts and embankments have obstructed the flow of waters causing major floods and in Bangladesh, an estimated 75 embankments were breached in one month alone during the current floods.

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