Floods in Northwest India expose the fragility of childhood
This year, torrential rains and cloudbursts unleashed floods and landslides across vast stretches of northern India, leaving unprecedented devastation in their wake. It’s still some time before the monsoon is scheduled to recede, but northwest India has already experienced nearly 32 per cent above-normal rainfall. However, this was not unexpected — in the beginning of the monsoon, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) had reported that seasonal rainfall is likely to be around 106 per cent of the long-period average, signalling an above-normal downpour.
According to the Union Ministry of Earth Sciences, the unusual intensity of the monsoon over the Western Himalayas — driven by western disturbances and moisture-laden winds — triggered heavy-to-very heavy rainfall in sub-Himalayan Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi-NCR, Rajasthan, and the northern fringes of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Experts have warned that, going ahead, such aberrations in the monsoon pattern may become the new normal, demanding climate adaptation in agriculture, water management, and disaster preparedness.
Local administration and civil society rush in
To respond to the crisis, state governments immediately deployed National and State Disaster Response Force (NDRF and SDRF) units for evacuation, relief distribution, and temporary shelters. Yet, the scale of devastation calls for more than emergency action.
Civil society organisations have stepped forward to fill critical gaps. Child Rights and You (CRY), along with its grassroots level partner organisations in Jammu and Kashmir — JKASW (Jammu Kashmir Association of Social Workers) and Koshish — has been working on immediate relief and long-term preparedness, with children put at the centre.
After the series of cloudbursts and flash floods struck the upper reaches of the state, the aftermath was felt in Bandipora district, where JKASW volunteers rushed in to assist families. “We supported the district administration in repairing bunds and reached out to families in distress,” said a senior JKASW official. “We also held flood awareness sessions with children and community members on safe evacuation, preparedness, and hygiene.”
Similarly, volunteers from Koshish worked with SDRF personnel and civil defence teams to evacuate around 70 families in Sharifabad. In Srinagar and Pampore, they provided support in relief camps, helping families cope with displacement. Alongside immediate relief, they engaged communities in preparedness training—so that resilience is built, not just relief delivered.
Children and women hardest hit
Floods don’t affect everyone equally. Women and children face disproportionate risks. Global research links extreme climate events to adverse impacts on children’s mental health and nutrition.
A recent study by the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation in collaboration with the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development found that floods, cyclones, and droughts often have child-specific and gendered consequences.
For children, the consequences are particularly severe. The risk of diarrhoea and other water-borne disease rises by 14 per cent during floods, and 24 per cent during cyclones. Food platters shrink, dietary diversity is lost, leaving children suffering from nutritional deficit. Access to ICDS and immunisation services also falters sharply during floods, compromising early childhood care and nutrition. Education is also impacted, as in many places schools are transformed into temporary flood shelters. More importantly, evidence suggests that forced migration and child trafficking increase, as livelihood options usually go for a toss in the wake of climate disasters.
Why child-centred climate action is important
The floods have reinforced one lesson loud and clear — awareness and preparedness save lives. Civil society teams on the ground found that regular community rapport, timely weather updates, and simple evacuation drills can make a big difference.
The 2025 floods in Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab and Uttarakhand have once again underscored the critical need for child-responsive disaster management, especially in the context of the current climate crisis.
Children’s limited mobility, dependence on caregivers, and developmental needs makes them particularly susceptible to death, injury, illness, and psychological trauma during disasters. Children from marginalised groups, based on gender, caste, class, region, or abilities, are disproportionately affected and often overlooked in conventional disaster responses.
A child-responsive disaster management system takes into account children’s unique vulnerabilities across all stages — preparedness, response and recovery. It covers measures such as child-focused early warning systems, safe evacuation and shelter arrangements, and guaranteed access to healthcare, nutrition, education, and psychosocial support. The approach gives priority to children most at risk of being overlooked, making sure that no child slips through the systemic gaps.
Integrating children’s needs into disaster risk reduction (DRR) not only protects their immediate safety but also promotes long-term resilience. Child-responsive DRR strengthens communities by protecting the most vulnerable and ensuring that future generations are equipped to withstand climate-related hazards.
To address this, CRY and National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM) jointly conducted a face-to-face training programme at Kashmir University, Srinagar, on Engaging Youth and Adolescents in Disaster Risk Reduction Management & Climate Change Adaptation. The session was held with more than 62 government officials from various departments including Police, Health, Fire service, Revenue and Disaster Management, Education, Social welfare, RD and PR, and Civil Society organisations. The objective of the session was to make the concerned duty bearers aware of children’s plights during climate emergencies.
It is time to act, now
The call of the hour is clear — It needs a collective strategy where governments, civil society, and communities work together to build a resilient course of action, in the best interest of the child. Just in case there are more unpredictable weather events, our response must bring more predictability in safeguarding children’s rights.
As all concerned duty bearers huddle together to brainstorm and weave in child rights into the heart of climate action, let us all remember that a child-responsive climate action ensures children’s health, safety, and education are protected by all means, especially in the remote, service-poor areas, while equipping children to become resilient citizens of tomorrow.
The time to act is now, before the next climate disaster strikes!
Soha Moitra is Director of Programmes, CRY – Child Rights and You
Views expressed are the author’s own and don’t necessarily reflect those of Down To Earth