Fire damage victims in Bihar village receive pitiable compensation
Channel: VideoVolunteers
Date: 2014-12-11

Fire can be a horrific occurrence when your entire life is built upon foundations of wood and straw. The residents of 12 houses, from Ismailpur village situated in Makdumpur Block of Jahanabad district of Bihar, witnessed its destructive powers first-hand during a raging fire in the Manjhi Tola area. The simple houses of the villagers, built mostly using wood and hay, stood no chance against the fire, which originated from one house and quickly spread to all the neighbouring houses. Most lost their entire life's savings in the catastrophe, but even this wasn't enough to spur local authorities into action. In the wake of this tragedy, the authorities provided a pittance to those affected - a few kilograms of rice, dal and potatoes. Only after going to them with videographed evidence were further steps taken to provide aid to the families, and even then the sum offered was a fraction of what had been lost - a mere 4200 INR to each of the families who had lost their homes to fire damage. Our Community Correspondent, Asha Devi, sheds some light on this incident.

CALL TO ACTION: Call the Block Development Officer of Makdumpur Block in Jahanabad district of Bihar, on +91-9431818077 and pressure him into allocating fair and reasonable compensation to the victims of this disaster.

About the Partnership: The Poorest Areas Civil Society (PACS) Programme and Video Volunteers have come together to create the Community Correspondents Network. The videos generated by the network will be able to highlight voices from the margins, providing skills to social communicators to provide advocacy tools to community based organisations.