Earth Equity News

Floods in India Drive Out Humans, Elephants and Rhinos. New Scientist and Reuters, September 2, 2008. "Exceptionally heavy monsoon rains and rising floodwaters forced hundreds of thousands of people from their homes in north-eastern India and sent elephants and rhinos fleeing, as the Indian government mobilised the military to deliver medical supplies, clean water and food. In the eastern Indian state of Bihar, the floods have already displaced about three million people and killed at least 90. The crisis started on 18 August when the Kosi river burst its banks for the first time in 150 years... In the north-eastern state of Assam, heavy rains caused water levels to rise on Tuesday, affecting more than a million people and disrupting road networks for the second consecutive day. Animals fled to higher ground in Kaziranga National Park after the Brahmaputra burst its banks and flooded most of the park, home to more than half of the world's population of one-horned rhinoceros... A herd of 100 elephants was swept away by floodwaters, forest officials said. 'We are now worried the poachers will take advantage and kill rhinos and elephants as they are moving out of the protected areas to safer ground,' said chief warden S N Buragohain. Hundreds of stick-wielding villagers ransacked a food warehouse in Madhepura district and looted food packets, while police guarding the warehouse ran for cover. Government vehicles carrying food were also looted... Many villagers in impoverished Bihar have been marooned on rooftops for days with nothing to eat, while some have taken to eating plants and leaves to survive."