An incredibly passionate playback singer and composer Papon has come forward to urge India and the world to act immediately for the victims of the catastrophic floods that hit his native state of Assam. With 68 lives lost and hundreds of thousands displaced in this monsoon season, the highly successful artist said that the scale of destruction witnessed is far greater than in the history of the region.
The Assam-born musician took to social media to broadcast his heartbreaking reality on the ground. Papon emphasized the magnitude of the situation: seasons of rains and floods are routine for the Brahmaputra valley but the current deluge has so far buried villages in water. Many families have gone out of their homes, livelihoods, and basic safety and many people are still missing. Empathy for the ecological and human loss of life was also evident as the singer said that there are many domestic animals and livestock dying in the rising waters as well.
According to recent reports of the Assam State Disaster Management Authority, the statewide flood death toll rose to 68 after fresh casualties in areas like Charaideo. Floodwater levels are slowly receding but more than 5.24 lakh people still are suffering from many districts including Sivasagar, Jorhat, Golaghat, and Nagaon. Hundreds of villages are cut off from the mainland and tens of thousands of displaced people are sheltering in state-run relief camps and distribution centers. Infrastructure such as agricultural land, rural roads, and river embankments has been badly damaged and the local economy is paralyzed.
Papon stressed that the solution to recovery must be a community effort and not just a governmental effort and called on people across the country and all over the world to come together with international helpers to respond. He said that tackling the situation we are in is the very essence of shared humanity and it is up to the grassroots population to raise awareness and resources and give whatever help can be provided as soon as possible. As rescue units from the National Disaster Response Force, State Disaster Response Force, and Indian Army carry out heavy evacuation operations in Upper Assam, public figures such as Papon are the ones to speak up to help raise awareness and accelerate relief for millions in the face of nature’s fury.
