In the monsoon of 2017, a flood devastated the village of Malda. Samir, 13, was alone at home with his younger sister and his grandmother when rainwater began collecting in their home, ultimately submerging it. A few months later, he and his family returned from the disaster relief camp to rebuild their home. Samir began learning how to weave fishing nets to sell to local fishermen for a livelihood.
Malda is predominantly agrarian. Villagers work in rice paddies, till land, and sell harvested vegetables in neighboring cities. These responsibilities are largely gender segregated—women work in the rice paddies, while men tend to the land and farm. During the floods, much of the livestock did not survive.
Villagers built a make-shift bamboo bridge in order to evacuate to higher ground. A year later, the bridge serves as a diving board for young children, who take turns jumping into a murky pool of water.
Rothobala, 85, had first entered this house after being married off by her family, at age eight. Nearly eight decades later, when her home flooded, her neighbors in the village helped her get to higher ground on an inflatable raft that they had received from a local aid organization.
Malda is a border town in India, neighboring Bangladesh. The effects of the flood equally affected a small sliver of land that falls squarely between the two countries and is referred to as “No Man’s Land”. Indian Border Security Forces refused entry to aid trucks with flood relief materials, and BSF personnel responsible for guarding the barbwire entry had vacated their post when water levels began rising. Residents of No Man’s Land crawled through a hole in the wiring to get food and clean water from aid trucks, when possible.