UNICEF rushes emergency supplies to flooded regions in India's Orissa State

By Prosun Sen

CUTTACK, India, 25 September 2008 – It is 7:30 on Sunday morning at the office of the District Emergency Officer in Cuttack in the state of Orissa, where floodwaters have affected 17 districts. The office is swamped with people, ringing phones and the crackle of walkie-talkies.

The arriving UNICEF rapid assessment team is taken aback by the scene that greets them here. Updates on marooned villages, rising water levels and relief camps awaiting critical supplies are pouring in, much like the rampaging Mahanadi River.

Nearly 3,500 villages have been affected, 21 lives have been lost and more than 250,000 people are now marooned. Large parts of coastal Orissa were inundated after the gates of Hirakud Dam were opened following extremely heavy rain.