This time when heavy rains were reported in the region, in the first week of August the river had begun lashing the embankments at the Kusaha barrage at the Indo-Nepal border menacingly.

The shocking failure--II

Rescue

• Despite having a warning of over a fortnight, no massive effort was mounted to move men,material and boats for rescue.
  
• Though the Kosi breached its embankments on August 18, no state-wide alert was sounded or people warned to evacuate on that day.
  
• Chief Minister Nitish Kumar,who also heads the State Disaster Management Authority,was informed of the breach only the next day.
  
• On August 20, two days after the breach, the chief minister appealed to the people to evacuate.But, by then it was too late.

Relief

• The first food packets were dropped by two helicopters only two days after some 866 villages and 335 panchayats were inundated.
  
• The National Disaster Management Authority did not have adequate number of boats or personnel to handle such a crisis.
  
• In Madhepura, the State Auxiliary Police that was meant to assist in relief efforts were themselves marooned because of a shortage of boats.
  
• It took more than aweek for the armed forces to be pressed into relief and rescue operations.

A chain of lapses

• The nodal agency, National Disaster Management Authority, wasted crucial time in responding to what was clearly a flood of Biblical proportions.

• Manmohan (right) with Sonia and Nitish on a visit to the flood-affected areas in Bihar

• National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA): It lays down policies, plans and guidelines for disaster management and coordinates enforcement and implementation of response to disasters.By the time NDMA Chairman Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited Bihar and announced a national disaster on August 28, nearly 10 valuable days had been lost.
  
• National Executive Committee (NEC): The NDMA's executive coordinates responses in an event of a disaster and comprising 15 secretaries of relevant ministries, was supplanted by the older National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC) headed by the Cabinet Secretary.The NCMC moved in only after the prime minister visited Bihar.
  
• National Disaster Response Force (NDRF): The force works towards specialist disaster response under the NDMA.One NDRF battalion reached floodaffected districts on August 18 and had begun relief operations, but given the scale of operations, its efforts were too little to be able to make a difference.

• State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA): The state's disaster response is headed by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who also holds the disaster management portfolio. Chief secretary heads the State Executive Committee (SEC).Kumar was informed of the disaster only on August 19. He undertook an aerial survey on August 20.Relief operation could start only on August 22 with just two helicopters airdropping food packets for over two million flood-affected people.
  
• District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA): Headed by the district magistrate, it acts as a planning, coordinating and implementing body for NDMAand SDMA.Unprepared and unable to cope with the disaster.
  
• Local authorities: Panchayati Raj institutions, municipalities, district and cantonment boards and town planning authorities for control and management of civic services at ground zero were found incapable of responding to the colossal crisis.

* The core of the Government's response capacity and the crucial immediate responders in all disasters.Yet, the first columns of army reached the villages only on August 27, nearly nine days after the Kosi had inundated the plains.Over 141 naval divers and boats arrived on the spot only on August 31.