‘Everything is gone’: Families in Delhi battle hunger, disease and loss after Yamuna floods

New Delhi: People staying in flood relief camps in Delhi are struggling with food, health problems and loss of homes after the Yamuna river overflowed.

Families line up for meals, sleep in the open, and try to hold on to whatever little they could save, even as the water level has now started to go down.

Strips of cloth tied to ropes stretch across the camp, serving as makeshift drying lines. In one corner, heaps of salvaged belongings and uprooted plants left behind by the floods lie scattered. A walk through the Mayur Vihar Phase I camp reveals how families are holding on to whatever little they managed to save.

What are people complaining about?

Shanti, a resident of Yamuna Khadar, described her everyday difficulties.

“We face a lot of trouble here at night because of the mosquitoes. Even the food we get mostly has rice. For those who have a fever, how will they manage to eat only rice?” she asked.

How have livelihoods been affected?

Ram Kishan, a farmer, said his family has been left without any means to survive after his crops were destroyed in the flood.

“All my fields have gone under water. This year’s entire harvest is gone, and my family completely depended on it,” he said.

“Living with a small child like this, under the open sky, is very difficult. There is no privacy, no comfort and we are constantly worried about the baby’s health,” said a mother of a six-month-old baby.

What do residents do to cope?

Along the roadside, utensils, mattresses and wooden cots are spread out. Some children try to play nearby while elderly men sit in groups, talking about what they have lost.

Rajesh, another resident of Yamuna Khadar, expressed a sense of hopelessness.

“My house is still under water and most of my belongings are gone. I had borrowed money for repairs last year, and now everything is washed away again. I don’t know how I will repay the debt,” he said.

On Friday at 8 am, the Yamuna’s water level at Delhi’s Old Railway Bridge fell to 207.31 metres, a day after reaching this season’s peak of 207.48 metres.

(PTI inputs)