Rescue work in Bihar
Outlook describes the work of the 202 Engineer regiment, one of the Army units engaged in rescue and relief work in Madhepura in north Bihar:
Against impossible odds, the sappers worked round the clock, operating from a camp on the road between Saharsa town and Madhepura’s district headquarters, now inundated with nearly five feet of water. The army engineers would begin their day at 4 am, ready the boats, load them on to tractors and then head for the point where the land met the swirling waters…As boats go out to the flooded villages, submerged electricity poles sometimes punched holes in the boats, which would be brought back and quickly repaired using handkerchiefs and M-seal…
When the day’s rescue operations are called off, stocktaking reveals that just four boats working non-stop for five hours have rescued 253 people, including 100 children. On one memorable day they managed to rescue nearly 200 children, some as young as six months old, trapped on the roof of the Durga Ma High School in Jodgaon village.
