When rescuers need to be rescued, we should sit up and take notice. Dramatic scenes unfolded recently near Dambuk in Arunachal Pradesh when a raft carrying rescuers and stranded individuals who had been picked up overturned in the swollen Sisiri river. Five people who were swept downstream were later found clinging on for dear life. Such scenes are not new in Arunachal and Assam. Rima Das’s 2017 feature, Village Rockstars, which won the National Award for best film, showed the emotional toll annual floods take on the people living along the Brahmaputra. This year, the government estimates nearly 50,000 people have already been affected by monsoon fury. Projects to stem riverbank erosion and improve connectivity need to be speeded up to guard against this annual menace.
