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Temporary shelters are submerged in floodwaters after a river overflowed in the Raghopur area of Vaishali district, Bihar state, India, on the 3rd local time. / AFP, Yonhap News

In the eastern Indian state of Bihar, record torrential rains have pushed seven major rivers past danger levels, displacing approximately 5 million people. The damage was compounded by flash floods and the collapse of a massive glacier last month in upstream Nepal, which sent torrents of water rushing downstream.

According to local media and Channel NewsAsia (CNA) on the 16th local time, the Bihar State Disaster Management Department stated the previous day that the number of people affected by the recent floods reached around 5 million. The state's Water Resources Department reported that seven major rivers across the region have all exceeded danger levels for embankment breaches. Twenty deaths have been reported so far from the flooding that began earlier this month, while submerged agricultural fields have led to snowballing crop damage.

Located downstream from Nepal along the Himalayas, Bihar is regarded as one of India's most vulnerable areas to flood damage. On the 26th of last month, part of the Langtang Lirung glacier collapsed in Nepal's Rasuwa district, triggering massive flash floods along the Trishuli River basin that claimed hundreds of lives. At the time, Bihar authorities fully opened 36 sluice gates along the Gandak River and issued alerts across the entire downstream region, but vast amounts of sediment and debris pouring in from Nepal engulfed downstream basins, spreading the damage.

The Bihar state government has shifted into emergency response mode. Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary said that emergency relief aid of 7,000 rupees (about 110,000 won) per household had been disbursed to some 827,000 affected families. The state government set up 13 relief camps and around 1,000 community kitchens, while deploying roughly 1,800 rescue boats to cut-off, flooded areas. Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary said, "We are continuously providing food, drinking water, and medicine to affected households," adding, "Our top priority is to establish fundamental reconstruction measures rather than just simple recovery."

Still, the suffering of local residents is mounting. One resident in Saran district lamented, "Living through floods every year feels like our destiny," adding, "We are desperate, lacking not only food and clean water to eat right away, but even milk to feed our children." A resident in Vaishali district, who fled to the rooftop after floodwaters submerged the house, described the situation: "We became wanderers unable even to cook, barely holding on by drinking contaminated water."

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has dispatched a federal joint survey team to assess the extent of the damage. Bihar is governed by a coalition led by Prime Minister Modi's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

                                                                                                              Jeong Ri-na