Not excess water, but neglected embankment caused the flood India has blamed the previous seven breaches on the Kosi embankment on Nepal releasing water from the barrage at Bhimnagar, even though Nepal has no control over the sluice gates. All the earlier breaches had occurred downstream of the barrage. But this year the breach happened upstream of the barrage and the flow was less

  Fluctuations in water level hampered rescue. At times it dropped too low for boats to ply, at times boats were trapped by submerged trees   The authorities knew of the impending disaster The Kosi breach was not something the Bihar and Union governments were unaware of. Official sources reveal that both governments may have

Pregnant women after walking barefoot for tens of kilometres delivered babies without medical help. The babies were given names synonymous with devastation. Dukhni Devi of Sahuria village in Purnia gave birth to a girl at the Banmankhi relief camp in Purnia but feared her husband had been washed away. She named her baby Dahua, meaning

1963: At eastern embankment at Dalwa in Nepal 1968: At western embankment at Jamalpur 1971: Collapse of Bhatania Approach Bund in Supaul 1980: In the eastern embankment in Saharsa. 1984: In the eastern embankment at Navhatta in Saharsa 1987: In the western embankment at Samani and Ghonghepur in Saharsa 1991: In the western embankment at Joginia

A baffled Bihar is struggling to provide food and shelter to three million people rendered homeless by a flood that swept through five districts. The Down To Earth team travels across the areas inundated by the Kosi in Bihar and Nepal to grasp the impact and concludes that the flood is a human failure, not natural disaster

Findings of the fact-finding team that studied floods in Bihar: Embanking the Kosi has prevented the Kosi