OXFAM: Sink or Swim - Why disaster risk reduction is central to surviving floods in South Asia

‘One flood means that development goes back six steps in Assam. If you have progressed 100 per cent then the flood means you go back 600 per cent’.
— Ravindranath, February 2007, Director, Rural Volunteers Centre, Oxfam partner in Dhemaji district of Assam in India which witnessed severe floods in 2001, 2003, 2004 and again in 2007

The United Nations has described the 2007 flood in India as 'the worst in living memory.' The time is ripe for change. Governments and donors in South Asia need to invest in reducing the risk of disasters as a long-term cure to chronic floods.

This short paper puts the case for strong and sustained investment in DRR in South Asia. It is available for download from the OXFAM website.