Students watch a slide show on the 2008 Kosi floods at College of Arts and Crafts, Patna, on Thursday. Picture by Jai Prakash

Patna, Aug. 18: A slide show on the devastating Kosi floods of 2008 was organised for the students of College of Arts and Crafts, Patna, at the institute today.

The slides were prepared by the geology department of Patna University as part of a project assigned by the Indian Space Research Organisation to study the Kosi basin.

The study focuses on the flood pattern of the Kosi, topography of the river basin and seismic zones of the area.

The slide show, which continued for half-an-hour, explained that the plains of north Bihar, particularly Kosi basin, are among the most flood-prone areas in the country.

The principal of College of Arts and Crafts, Patna, Atul Aditya Pandey, said: “Kosi has been causing a lot of destruction by lateral movement and extensive flooding as the river water carries heavy silt load and has a tendency to move sideways.”

Through the slides, various aspects of the Kosi basin were explained to the students, like the shifting of the river in the past few years and also new areas coming under the grip of floods.

Slides on change in lifestyle of people living in the Kosi basin and loss of life and property in the floods were also shown to the students. The slides gave the budding artists a closer look of nature’s fury and the devastation caused by it.

The slide show also raised the issue of weak embankments around the Kosi basin which failed to withstand the pressure of floods.

Pandey said the project, which the department is preparing with the help of satellite data, will assist in detailed mapping of the area and will be used for studying disaster management, including floods and earthquakes.