Birgunj, August 24

Renu Devi lost one of her children to floods a few days ago and she continues to battle for survival with her remaining family members.

A resident of Brahmapuri, Rautahat, Renu’s son Amit Ram, aged 6, was swept away in flooding on August 11. She is yet to receive the body of her child. “I tried to save all three of my children from the floods, but to no avail. The flood took him,” lamented Renudevi, whose other son, four-year-old Sunil Ram is being treated in Birgunj Sub-regional Hospital at present.

“Though we were living somehow, things went from bad to worse after another son fell ill and we brought him here,” said the mother, who is also physically disabled, at Narayani Sub-Regional Hospital. “He had fever and was suffering from diarrhoea and we didn’t know what to do until the villagers told us to take him to the hospital,” she added.

“We have already lost one child and don’t have anything — no home, no money, no other belongings, and now he is ill,” she lamented, appealing for help for the child’s treatment. Meanwhile, the hospital has started treating the child following the initiative of Birgunj Youth Society.