Incessant rain in the upper Himalayas in mid-June 2013 resulted in a series of cloudburst, landslides, and floods in northern India, with the biggest impacts in Uttarakhand State. Landslides and flash floods led to damaged roads, collapsed bridges, huge loss of life and property, as well as numbers of pilgrims stranded at famous shrine areas. Christian Aid's emergency response team carried out this EMMA assessment of the rice and tourism market systems in the two worst-affected districts of Uttarakhand shortly after the crisis to help shape its immediate response strategies. Both market systems were severely affected by the floods due to both supply and demand side constraints. This EMMA recommends a combination of cash transfers to affected households to ensure access to food items, cash or food for work programs to help rebuild essential infrastructure, identifying and addressing key blockages in supply chains, further development of agriculture, livestock-based and alternative livelihoods strategies for area households and the improvement of early warning prediction and communication systems.
Report authors:
Yeeshu Shukla, Shakeb Nabi, Apar Paudyal
