Patna, Aug. 1 (PTI): The International Water Management Institute today declared that Bihar was the most prone to floods when compared with other states in the country.

"Seventy-three per cent of Bihar's 94,163sqkm gets flooded annually and 76 per cent people of north Bihar were at risk from floods. The Index-based Flood Insurance (IBFI) could prove to be a boon for the situation," said Giriraj Amarnath, senior researcher and project head of the institute, at a workshop on the institute campus today.

He added that IBFI could ensure an objective post-flood compensatory mechanism to enable robustness against uncertainties and minimise the burden on governments. The index has been developed with inputs on rainfall, water- level, flood extent, flood hazard models, flood loss models, crop yield loss, economic loss, crop damage and use of remote sensing applications.

"IBFI can help bridge the liquidity gap faced by governments between immediate emergency aid and long-term development assistance. It can also help unlock the money kept for relief," he said.

Amarnath said Bihar faced major floods in 1987, 1995, 1998, 2002, 2004, 2007 and 2008. Around 1.5 crore people in the state are affected by floods every year, which also causes damage to 3 lakh metric tonnes of paddy. The project aims to integrate hi-tech modelling and satellite imagery with other data to predetermine flood thresholds, which could lead to effective compensation payout schemes for low-income, flood-prone communities.

The International Water Management Institute has partnered International Food Policy Research Institute, Institute of Water Modelling, Climate Change Agriculture and Food Security, and other institutes along with various insurance companies, foreign universities and stakeholders.

"It has plans to implement the project in South Asian countries," said Amarnath.

Rajya Sabha member and former Union minister C.P. Thakur praised the efforts of IWMI in this regard and suggested that they broad-base the concept to include the landless poor in Bihar, engaged in agriculture activities because the scheme would not be successful otherwise.

"IBFI should consider the poor and focus on the plight of agriculture after floods. It would be successful only if poverty is also alleviated," Thakur said.

Nagan Prasad of the Flood Management and Improvement Support Centre, Pramod Aggrawal of International Food Policy Research Institute, Pramod Kumar Joshi from International Food Policy Research Institute and several other flood experts also spoke on the occasion.