12 years ago, on 18th August 2008, eastern Kosi Embankment at Kushaha (Sunsari District) Nepal breached. @amitangshu @Watervagabond @KenBoulder @GEAG_India @mdevasher @dahalkeshab @keshabpoudel2 @joydeepgupta @RameshBhushal

River began flowing in its old course towards Ganga bringing widespread disaster that affected about 50,000 Nepali and 3.5 million people of North Bihar. Few months later, I worked with artist late Surendra Pradhanga and he drew a schematic of the breach.

Among many papers that have analyzed the dynamics of the breach and floods, the following question the wisdom of of the conventional way of flood management.

Vol. 43, Issue No. 46, 15 Nov, 2008 of EPW h
1 The Kosi and the Embankment Story D. K. Mishra
2 Management of Floods in Bihar C P Sinha
3 Kosi: Rising Waters, Dynamic Channels and Human Disasters: Rajiv Sinha
4 Floods, Himalayan Rivers, Nepal: Some Heresies Ramaswamy R Iyer

5 Kosi Embankment Breach in Nepal: Need for a Paradigm Shift in Responding to Floods, Dixit A. http://epw.in/journal/2009/06/special-articles/k
6Institutional Dysfunction and Challenges in Flood Control: A Case Study of the Kosi Flood 2008: Shrestha, R. K. et al (Vol xlv No 2) January 9, 2010 EPW

Today floods ravages SA, yet

The more things change the more they remain the same.