CHANDIGARH: As water from most of the marooned villages in Punjab has started receding and the communities impacted by catastrophic floods are provided with relief material to support daily living, what they need now is long-term rehabilitation, besides medical care to prevent health issues.
Field reports indicate a notable spike in the transmission of water and vector-borne diseases, such as typhoid, cholera, and malaria, among others.
Also, there is a rise in snakebite cases. Carcasses of hundreds of animals, including buffalo and hens, are now piled up in the village's farms, posing outbreaks of disease and economic damage.
Numerous non-profit organisations have been advocating good hygienic practices and safe food preparation techniques by educating communities, largely rural, not to use flood water to wash dishes, brush teeth or wash and prepare food.
The sudden water releases from major dams, Bhakra, Pong and Ranjit Sagar, after days of heavy rain in hilly areas, resulted in flooding in the Sutlej, Beas, and Ravi rivers downstream, breaching canals' embankments, and ruining matured paddy saplings.
It is the worst flood in four decades, which claimed 53 lives and destroyed crops sown over 1.91 lakh hectares, with 2, 185 affected villages in 22 districts and displaced 388, 466 people.
According to the government bulletin on Wednesday, 91 more people were rescued, taking the total number of evacuees to 23, 297.
At present, 115 relief camps are operational across the state, accommodating 4, 533 people. Still, farmers are unable to reach their houses as the connecting roads have been destroyed, leaving them in suspense about the fate of their animals.
Britain-based charity organisation is on the ground. It has joined hands with doctors of the Punjab Institute of Medical Sciences of Jalandhar to reach out to flood-affected areas with timely medical aid.
"I had more than 20 buffalo and many hens in my farmhouse. When I visited the shed days after the floods, many of them died due to flood water or starvation, " said Nachattar Singh, a distressed farmer in a village in Ferozepur.
He said most of the villages fled from their homes and have not come back as the mud is dangerous.