Hand Book for Gaon Burahs and Panchayati Raj Leader

65from the high elevations carries silt deposits and spreads all along its waythrough the village. As a result many areas of cultivable land got permanentlyunsuitable for further cultivation and many crops get damaged every year. Thegovt. had been allocating fund for flood protection, but with little success,because the course of the flood stream changes with every monsoon rain andalso because of lack of proper planning and implementation of governmentfunds.HISTORY OF DISASTER IN THE VILLAGE:In 1988, the village experienced one of the worst floods. The floodwaterflowed over the river and nallah banks and damaged many acres of cultivableland all along the course of Denning nallah, Tabang Nallah, Tisap Nallah,Tezu Nallah. The devastating flood of 2004 once again refreshed the pastmemories of flood disaster. The embankment built along the course ofDenning nallah, Tabang Nallah, Tezu Nallah got severely damaged. Manyportion of the security embankment got submerged under the silt deposits.Moreover, due to incessant heavy rainfall landslides was experienced in theTafragam hills.Disaster in the form of stormy cyclone wind with heavy rainfall is also amajor concern for the villagers. More than 75% of the houses are built ofperishable materials like wood, bamboo, thatch, canes etc. Because of utterpoverty and due to the lack of employment opportunities, the poor villagerscannot afford to build pucca houses. The simply built thatch roof kutcha housesets maximum damage during such situation and the people living under theshed are the main sufferers. However the villagers have a rich tradition ofcommunity feeling and helping each other during disasters. Also, they havethe spirit of self-esteem. Perhaps because of this spirit, houses are againraised even before the compensation reaches the victims.Man made disasters fire accident, epidemic, road accident, etc. are alsonot an unnoticed phenomenon. Though unpredictable but due to lack of rainand dryness during winter fire accident frequently occurs. During fire accident,the kutcha house needs only a few minutes to get burnt down. In suchsituation it is obvious that the fire brigade are not able to save the house, andnothing is left except ashes.As this village is one of the most flood prone and vulnerable to variousnatural calamities, the District Administration has identified the village as aPilot Village for DIPECHO Project. A Two-day Orientation cum trainingprogramme on Disaster Risk management was organized successfully by theRR & DM branch of Lohit District in Collaboration with District Administrationon 13-14 May 2005. Two-days bamboo plantation programme with the helpof villagers were also organized in which more than thousands of bambootrees are planted along the river banks of Denning and Tabang NallahVillage Disaster Management Committee of Loiliang Village.