More than 40 persons are feared to have died and over 1.5 million people have been affected by the recent floods in Northen India, triggered by heavy monsoon rain.

Supaul, Araria and Madhepura districts are the worst affected after the Kosi River overflowed a breach in the eastern section of the river's embankment. Crops, homes and key infrastructures were swept away by strong currents which submerged the whole area, and flood waters in Supaul itself are still expected to rise over the coming days, according to local authorities. Access to the affected communities is therefore still very difficult and the limited availability of motorised boats increases the complexity of search and rescue operations.

The consequences of this catastrophe are all the more tragic given that the floods affected an area which had been almost 'flood-free' since 1952. The area lacked disaster management planning, or any kind of coordination mechanisms that could have mitigated the impact of rising waters. The full extent of the flooding is still to be assessed, as well as the exact number and localisation of affected populations.

We are entering the second week of the emergency: affected areas are starting to face acute food shortages and displaced populations are converging in makeshift camps along roadsides and on elevated land, or in camps formally run by the authorities, without suitable water or sanitation infrastructures.

ACTED already present in Madhubani, in the Bihar State, with a programme aiming at supporting vulnerable communities affected by record-high devastations following the 2007 floods, is carefully monitoring the humanitarian situation on the ground and preparing an emergency intervention to provide for basic needs (food, clean water and access to sanitation infrastructures, shelters, etc.) of the displaced people and destroyed communities.

Fearing a humanitarian catastrophe, ACTED's teams are working to set up short term relief operations in a region which remains cut off from the rest of the country when few operational organisations are already present in the field.