Resigned to a fate of constant displacement, India’s river islanders return home in between floods

MORIGAON, India (AP) — Yaad Ali is dreading the rainy season’s arrival this year.

The 56-year-old farmer from northeastern India’s Assam state lives with his wife and son on Sandahkhaiti island on India’s Brahmaputra River. The island, like two thousand others on the river, floods with increasing ferocity and unpredictability as human-caused climate change makes rain heavier and more erratic in the region.

The family move away with every flood, and move back to their house every dry season. Ali said politicians in the region have made promises to provide relief for them, including during the current election, but little has changed for his family. For now, they contend with being displaced for large parts of the year.

“We need some sort of a permanent solution,” Ali said. “In the last few years, it’s only a short time after we recover from flood damages that we have to be ready to face another flood.”

A permanent piece of land in a safer region of the state can be the only solution to their troubles, he said. And while local governments have talked about it, only a few river islanders have been offered land rights in the state.