Silchar, Aug. 20 -- Chandravati Manjhi, 65, returned to Bihubor village in Assam's Sivasagar district 15 days after the devastating July 19 flood, desperate to find her home - Bihubor had been buried under a mudslide that swept down the hills of neighbouring Nagaland.

For Chandravati, returning home did not mean returning to the life built over decades; it meant trying to find what remained of it. "I could identify my house only because there was a concrete structure nearby," she said.

Labourers at a stone crusher, Chandravati and her son lived around 100 metres from the Dikhow river. She recalled the terror of the June 19 flood. "That day, suddenly the water level started rising and we heard a massive sound coming from upstream on the ...