The threat of disease is also rising, but the government says it could take months before people can return home from camps.
The monsoon comes every year and also caused severe flooding in Bihar last year, but authorities admit they were not prepared for the scale of the disaster.
“Neither us nor the people thought such a devastation could happen so suddenly,” Mishra said.
Aid agencies are unimpressed by the speed of the relief effort.
“On the ground, preparedness is missing in the current response,” ActionAid’s P.V. Unnikrishnan said. “Preparedness cannot be a knee-jerk reaction and currently preparing against disasters is not on the radar of the government.”
RSS