BOMBAY, 4 August 2005 — India will be hit by billions of dollars in losses because of last week’s heavy rains and floods in the west, and many already-impoverished people will be wiped out financially, insurers and aid workers said yesterday.
Record rainfall eight days ago in Bombay set off days of flooding that killed nearly 1,000 people across the western state of Maharashtra and brought India’s commercial capital to a standstill.
“It is too early to estimate the size of losses, we can only assess it when the flood waters recede,” Maharashtra Finance Minister Jayant Patil told Reuters. “But the damage will run into hundreds of billions of rupees (billions of dollars).”
The state government’s initial response has come under fire from aid agencies, who say it is still not doing enough to help the most desperate people.
The rain has let up and Bombay’s airport, India’s busiest, was functioning normally for the first time since 94 cm (37 inches) of rain pounded the city on July 26.
But low-lying parts of the metropolis of more than 15 million people remain under water and long-distance trains are still not running on some routes.
Hundreds of cases of cholera, gastroenteritis and dysentery have been reported in the state, as medical teams distribute chlorine tablets for drinking water contaminated by sewage.
Government officials said relief efforts had improved considerably since last week, when they were hampered by rain.
“We are concentrating on clearing garbage, improving sanitation and public health. We are also working on resuming clean water supplies in areas where they were disrupted,” said Suresh Kakine, director of flood relief for Maharashtra. “There is no evidence of an epidemic,” he said.
The Times of India, quoting government estimates, reported yesterday that Maharasthra’s losses could be 150 billion rupees ($3.5 billion), including 100 billion rupees alone in Bombay.
Insurers have received plenty of claims from businesses, but these wildly underestimate the overall costs because most people in India simply cannot afford insurance.
ICICI-Lombard General Insurance has received about 1,000 claims, totaling nearly 850 million rupees, mostly from corporate houses.
“We believe the majority of claims have come in, and the final tally could be a bit higher,” said Kartik Jain, head of marketing, who estimates that overall general insurance claims will be in the region of 10 billion rupees ($230 million).
“But there may be small businesses, homes, livestock and fields that are not insured. So the actual damage may be much higher,” he said. Aid agencies and citizens’ groups have criticized the government for its uneven pace in bringing relief.
“Focusing on the resilience of the people — while a good thing — has misled international aid agencies and hampered relief efforts on the ground,” said P.V. Unnikrishnan of British charity ActionAid.
Bombay surged back to life yesterday but aid workers battling to get relief to flood-affected areas said the worst is not yet over.
Streams of office-goers poured from railway stations into the city’s streets, holding colorful umbrellas against the occasional drizzle as schools, colleges and offices reopened.
