Evaluation of UNICEF's Flood Emergency Response in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh

The Floods of 2007 caused widespread damage in Northern Bihar and Eastern Uttar Pradesh
and are reported to be among the worst in recent decades. The Bihar floods of 2007 caused
severe damage and are described by many as the “worst in living memory”. As per the Bihar
State Department for Disaster Management Report, the floods affected 11,850 villages in 22
districts out of total 38 districts. A total of 24.8 million persons were affected and over a
million persons were evacuated. It is estimated that 960 lives were lost. Already frail surface
road networks were badly damaged rendering a large number of the affected villages
inaccessible for considerable period.

UNICEF’s Emergency Preparedness and Response Plan (EPRP) for 2007 were last updated in July 2007 in both Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. It provided basic vulnerability mapping, and identified the most vulnerable districts, which are in turn selected for pre-positioning of emergency supplies in Bihar. Bihar pre-positioned supplied for 40,000 families, however, there was no pre-positioning done in Uttar Pradesh. Supply of these materials was available with local partners by the last week of July 2007. In Bihar the local NGOs partners swung in to action much before the local administration and reached out to affected population with available supplies.