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Express Tribune
19 hours ago
- Climate
- Express Tribune
Floods in northeast India claim 34 lives as heavy rains continue
People carry a patient on a stretcher as they wait for a rescue boat to evacuate him from the flood-affected Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences hospital, following heavy rains in Imphal East, Manipur, India June 1, REUTERS Listen to article At least 34 people have died in India's northeastern region after heavy floods caused landslides over the last four days, authorities and media said on Monday, and the weather department predicted more heavy rain. More than a thousand tourists trapped in the Himalayan state of Sikkim were being evacuated on Monday, a government statement said, and army rescue teams were pressed into service in Meghalaya state to rescue more than 500 people stranded in flooded areas. In neighbouring Bangladesh, at least four members of a family were killed in a landslide in the northeastern district of Sylhet, while hundreds of shelters have been opened across the hilly districts of Rangamati, Bandarban, and Khagrachhari on Sunday. Authorities have warned of further landslides and flash floods, urging residents in vulnerable areas to remain alert. India's northeast and Bangladesh are prone to torrential rains that set off deadly landslides and flash floods, affecting millions of people every year. Roads and houses in Assam's Silchar city were flooded, visuals from news agency ANI showed, and fallen trees littered the roads. "We are facing a lot of challenges. I have a child, their bed is submerged in water. What will we do in such a situation? We keep ourselves awake throughout the night," Sonu Devi, a resident of Silchar, told ANI.


The Star
a day ago
- Climate
- The Star
At least 34 dead in India's northeast after heavy floods
People carry a patient on a stretcher as they wait for a rescue boat to evacuate him from the flood-affected Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences hospital, following heavy rains in Imphal East, Manipur, India June 1, 2025. REUTERS/Stringer BHUBANESWAR/DHAKA (Reuters) -At least 34 people have died in India's northeastern region after heavy floods caused landslides over the last four days, authorities and media said on Monday, and the weather department predicted more heavy rain. More than a thousand tourists trapped in the Himalayan state of Sikkim were being evacuated on Monday, a government statement said, and army rescue teams were pressed into service in Meghalaya state to rescue more than 500 people stranded in flooded areas. In neighbouring Bangladesh, at least four members of a family were killed in a landslide in the northeastern district of Sylhet, while hundreds of shelters have been opened across the hilly districts of Rangamati, Bandarban, and Khagrachhari on Sunday. Authorities have warned of further landslides and flash floods, urging residents in vulnerable areas to remain alert. India's northeast and Bangladesh are prone to torrential rains that set off deadly landslides and flash floods, affecting millions of people every year. Roads and houses in Assam's Silchar city were flooded, visuals from news agency ANI showed, and fallen trees littered the roads. "We are facing a lot of challenges. I have a child, their bed is submerged in water. What will we do in such a situation? We keep ourselves awake throughout the night," Sonu Devi, a resident of Silchar, told ANI. (Reporting by Jatindra Dash in Bhubaneswar and Ruma Paul in Dhaka; Writing by Shilpa Jamkhandikar; Editing by Sonali Paul)

Straits Times
a day ago
- Climate
- Straits Times
At least 34 dead in India's northeast after heavy floods
Members of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) team evacuate patients, attendants and medical staff from the flood-affected Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences hospital, following heavy rains in Imphal East, Manipur, India June 1, 2025. REUTERS/Stringer People carry a patient on a stretcher as they wait for a rescue boat to evacuate him from the flood-affected Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences hospital, following heavy rains in Imphal East, Manipur, India June 1, 2025. REUTERS/Stringer At least 34 dead in India's northeast after heavy floods BHUBANESWAR/DHAKA - At least 34 people have died in India's northeastern region after heavy floods caused landslides over the last four days, authorities and media said on Monday, and the weather department predicted more heavy rain. More than a thousand tourists trapped in the Himalayan state of Sikkim were being evacuated on Monday, a government statement said, and army rescue teams were pressed into service in Meghalaya state to rescue more than 500 people stranded in flooded areas. In neighbouring Bangladesh, at least four members of a family were killed in a landslide in the northeastern district of Sylhet, while hundreds of shelters have been opened across the hilly districts of Rangamati, Bandarban, and Khagrachhari on Sunday. Authorities have warned of further landslides and flash floods, urging residents in vulnerable areas to remain alert. India's northeast and Bangladesh are prone to torrential rains that set off deadly landslides and flash floods, affecting millions of people every year. Roads and houses in Assam's Silchar city were flooded, visuals from news agency ANI showed, and fallen trees littered the roads. "We are facing a lot of challenges. I have a child, their bed is submerged in water. What will we do in such a situation? We keep ourselves awake throughout the night," Sonu Devi, a resident of Silchar, told ANI. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.


NDTV
a day ago
- Health
- NDTV
Over 19,000 People Affected, 3,300 Houses Damaged In Manipur Floods
Imphal: More than 19,000 people have been affected by floods in Manipur caused by overflowing rivers and breaches in embankments, officials said on Monday. They said 3,365 houses have been damaged and 19,811 people affected by floods triggered by incessant torrential rains during the last four days. Thirty-one relief camps have been opened mostly in Imphal East district to mitigate the hardships of the people who have been evacuated from their homes and localities. Heingang, Wangkhei and Khurai assembly constituencies in Imphal East district are worst affected along with Senapati district. Forty-seven landslides too have been reported in different parts of the state during the last four days. Several localities in the state's capital Imphal, and many parts of Imphal East district have been inundated after a swollen river breached embankments and overflowed in Khurai, Heingang and Checkon areas, they said. Waterlogging was reported on the premises of several offices, health facilities, and establishments, including All India Radio Imphal complex, and state-run Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences, after the Imphal river overflowed in the Checkon area, one of the officials said. Several patients, who have been undergoing treatment at Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences at Porompat in Imphal East district, were shifted to other hospitals on Sunday evening as floodwaters entered the premises of the health facility, he said. Local clubs, volunteers, SDRF and NDRF personnel joined hands to shift the patients after floodwaters entered the female orthopaedic and surgery wards, located on the ground floor, the official said. Manipur Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla visited several inundated areas of Imphal town even as the army and Assam Rifles personnel rescued nearly 800 people from submerged localities in Imphal East, the worst-affected district, they said. Bhalla, accompanied by Chief Secretary PK Singh and other senior officials, visited Kangla Nongpok Thong, Lairikyengbam Leikai, and Singjamei Bridge in Imphal and assessed the overall situation, a Raj Bhavan statement said. The water level of the Iril river in Imphal East district crossed the danger mark on Sunday but is yet to breach the embankments, he said. In view of the incessant rain, the governor announced the extension of the summer vacation in schools in Imphal East and West districts and the Senapati sub-division of Senapati district until further orders. Parts of the Senapati district have been affected after the Senapati river overflowed near Viewland colony, the officials said. The Indian army and Assam Rifles rescued approximately 800 civilians on Saturday, a statement said. Troops of Assam Rifles were deployed with quick reaction teams to the most affected locations in Porompat, Wankhei , Sanjenthong, Palace Compound, New Checkon, Khurai Heikrumakhong Heinang, Soibam Leikai, Wangkhei Angom Leikai, Nongmeibung Raj Bari in Imphal East district and adjoining areas. "The total number of people rescued reached approximately 800 people, including 10 to 20 differently abled and aged individuals," the statement said. The authorities are coordinating with all relevant departments and agencies to ensure timely relief and rehabilitation efforts, another statement said. Meanwhile, Lok Sabha MP Angomcha Bimol Akoijam has urged the governor to declare the flood situation a "state calamity". In a letter to Bhalla, Akoijam said the declaration would enable the activation of institutional measures to deal with the present situation. Manipur Congress President Keisham Meghachandra Singh on Sunday alleged that the water resources department has failed to control floods in various vulnerable areas of the state. He made the remarks during a visit to flood-affected areas of the Heingang constituency of former chief minister N Birren Singh. The Congress leader stressed that residential and agricultural areas have been submerged by overflowing rivers as the construction of various retaining walls remained incomplete. PTI COR RG


Indian Express
3 days ago
- Health
- Indian Express
Meet the Nightingales: From providing palliative care in remote villages to caring for colleagues during the pandemic, cancer patients
Leimapokpam Ranjita Devi and her husband used to routinely hop on a scooter at odd hours to provide palliative care to patients in remote Manipur villages. Banu M R cared for her sick colleagues in the NIMHANS hostel and guest house in Bengaluru to free up beds for patients with severe Covid-19 infection. As an oncology nurse, when the concept of palliative care was relatively unknown, Major-General Sheena P D has counselled numerous cancer patients and their families on accepting the diagnosis and getting treatment. The trio was among the 15 nurses, auxiliary nurse midwives and women health workers from across India who were conferred the Florence Nightingale Award by President Droupadi Murmu on Friday. Of these awardees, four each are from the North-East and union territories, and two from the national capital. Ranjita tells The Indian Express, 'One of my seniors asked me to apply for the award, but I barely had any photographs or videos that I was required to upload as part of my nomination. However, I got this award for training other nurses at the hospital.' Having spent most of her nearly 20-year career at the Imphal-based Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences, Ranjita has many feathers in her cap over the years — from providing palliative care and training nurses in the red zone (areas in the hospital with severely ill Covid-19 patients) to setting up the protocol for the kidney transplant team at the institute and being a part of the rapid action team established after violence erupted in Manipur in May 2023. 'Since I live on campus, I frequently cover shifts for nurses who are unable to report for duty. I still remember being asked to come to the hospital on May 3 (2023). I ended up staying all night. People kept coming in with injuries the whole time,' she recalls. Before all this, Ranjita was a part of a four-member team that provided door-to-door palliative care. 'I would receive a call if a patient removed their Ryle's tube (used for feeding through the nose) by mistake or if they were in too much pain. One by one, the others moved to different teams, but they would keep referring their patients to me,' she says, adding that though the programme has been discontinued, 'this is what I am most proud of'. While Ranjita says she has never hesitated in taking care of her patients, she recalls a scare she got while seven months pregnant with her second child. 'I remember rushing to a hospital corridor at the end of my night shift to help a woman, who had started delivering her baby there. In the afternoon, I received a call and was informed that the woman was HIV positive. I had to take medicines to protect myself and my baby,' she says. Like Ranjita, Banu too has never shied away from her duties as a nurse at NIMHANS, one of the country's foremost mental health hospitals. Taking care of nearly 170 doctors, nurses, health workers and medical students during the pandemic, she says, 'earned me this award'. Banu, who specialises in taking care of patients with psychiatric and neurological conditions, manages a rehabilitation centre at NIMHANS. 'There are several patients who do not have an acute condition, but their mental ailments don't quite not allow them to integrate into society. So our centre gives them structure. They work at the centre daily, from 8 am to 4 pm, making cakes, paper, printing things, etc. They also receive some remuneration for their work,' she says. Banu is also the lead author of a study related to the pandemic, which found that the lockdown and unavailability of alcohol had resulted in fewer road accidents, though cases of domestic violence had gone up. For the study, Banu, who also worked at the hospital's neuro-emergency department during the pandemic, collected data on walk-ins with head injuries. As part of her PhD thesis, she has created a protocol to reduce and stop the use of tobacco among people with schizophrenia. 'Though we were able to get only 25% of these people to stop using tobacco for a week, the use did dip significantly,' she says. In her message to future nurses, she says, 'You don't have to be Mother Teresa, but if you become a nurse, you have to work hard with honesty and with humanity.' Major-General Sheena, who has worked 10 years as a critical care nurse and as an oncology nurse for nearly two decades, agrees with Banu's message. 'It is a job that requires a lot of dedication, devotion and diligence,' she says. Having trained as an oncology nurse at Mumbai's Tata Memorial Hospital and worked with cancer patients on multiple Army bases across the country, she says, 'When I started as an oncology nurse, not many were trained in the field. There was no concept of palliative care. I am happy that nurses have now started specialising in different fields, including cancer care.' Before retiring from service in April, Major-General Sheena worked at the Army headquarters for 12 years, where her duties included inducting younger nurses to the service. One of the biggest challenges for her over the years, she says, has been giving 'realistic' hope to her patients and their families. Other 'challenges', she says, included preparing her patients to deal with their therapies, and counselling families on how to support and care for cancer patients. Anonna Dutt is a Principal Correspondent who writes primarily on health at the Indian Express. She reports on myriad topics ranging from the growing burden of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and hypertension to the problems with pervasive infectious conditions. She reported on the government's management of the Covid-19 pandemic and closely followed the vaccination programme. Her stories have resulted in the city government investing in high-end tests for the poor and acknowledging errors in their official reports. Dutt also takes a keen interest in the country's space programme and has written on key missions like Chandrayaan 2 and 3, Aditya L1, and Gaganyaan. She was among the first batch of eleven media fellows with RBM Partnership to End Malaria. She was also selected to participate in the short-term programme on early childhood reporting at Columbia University's Dart Centre. Dutt has a Bachelor's Degree from the Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication, Pune and a PG Diploma from the Asian College of Journalism, Chennai. She started her reporting career with the Hindustan Times. When not at work, she tries to appease the Duolingo owl with her French skills and sometimes takes to the dance floor. ... Read More