Flood victims seek divine intervention in Bihar

Saharsa (Bihar), Sept 14 : Flood victims in Saharsa District on Sunday prayed to lord Vishnu to tame river Kosi that has submerged large areas.

Led by a priest, flood victims at a relief camp in Sahasra organised a ritual to pray to lord Vishnu to tame the river.

"I pray to lord Vishnu to contain the overflowing Kosi, as we have already lost so many lives. I am hopeful, He will listen to us," said Pitambar Jha, a priest.

For the flood victims, divine intervention was the last resort.

"We have lost everything in the floods including clothes, utensils, and many other things. Today, we are praying to god to listen to our prayers," said Baby Kumari, a flood victim.

Most years, the Kosi river of eastern India is a tranquil stream that flows gently into river Ganges. But every few years it becomes a raging torrent, wreaking disaster on everything in its path.

That's what happened in August when after monsoon rains the Kosi burst its banks and flooded half of Bihar, wiping out villages and farms, and displacing more than three million people.

River Kosi, a tributary of the Ganges, flooded an area roughly the size of Belgium. The floods changed the course of the river, shifting it 120 kilometer towards a dry river channel it last flowed through 250 years ago.

It's the Kosi's worst flooding in 50 years and the river is notorious for such cataclysmic events and experts say the government should have been prepared for such a scenario and taken preventive action such as reinforcing embankments and removing silt from the river bed.

ANI