Repost von https://www.centreofresilience.org/news
Weeks after Prashant returned to Bihar, the seasonal floods came. The same floods, and lack of support for marginalised peoples, led to the death of 500 people while we were based in Bihar in 2017-18. This year, an estimated10 million people were displaced within Bihar alone. This is the reality, and the future for Bihar, unless systemic changes are made to both urban development and social discrimination.
The Centre was entirely flooded, as was much of Patna, Bihar's capital city, and many rural areas. The families who live just next to the Centre along a canal had to leave their simple homes for higher ground.
Prashant worked with the youth of these same families and regional youth organisers to provide basic relief to those most in need. Together, and with funds raised internationally, they provided woollen blankets and 5,000 water treatment solutions to frontline communities.
Life-threatening floods and droughts will only grow in severity in the coming years with global climate change, unplanned development and social marginalisation. In response, Prashant is currently carrying out the first prototypes of affordable stilt housing: an alternative for Bihar's most vulnerable families in the floods to come. Such designs could lead to housing that is affordable, and resistant to flooding.
This after all, is our mission. RESILIENCE.