What is the pain of losing three family members one after the other within an eight-day interval? Ask Buchan Sada, 33, of Sada Tole, Chhinnamasta Rural Municipality-5, Saptari, and he will know. It is not a fate. It is not a natural disaster. The deep pain of losing a father, a four-year-old daughter, and a one-year-old son to diarrhea is clearly visible on his face.

The impact of poverty is so deep that he has been living in a hut built on public land for 6 days, not only does he not have the money to feed his father, but he is also worried about what to feed his two surviving daughters and one son. He is also worried about the health of his 26-year-old wife Parvati Devi, who is battling diarrhea.

Buchan's yard looks like a field that has just been cleared for planting rice. It has become muddy after a few days of rain. He is living in one corner of the muddy yard as a guest for his father, son and daughter.

Sada Tole, which is home to 90 households, has been battling a diarrhea epidemic for 14 days. More than a dozen people in the neighborhood have now fallen ill with diarrhea. How did this situation come to Sada Tole and how is the poor community being affected by it?

It was two weeks ago. Buchan's wife Parvati Devi had fed herself and her family members a piece of fish given by her brother-in-law Devananda. The next day, Parvati, her 1-year-old son, and her 66-year-old father-in-law Laxman developed diarrhea. On the third day of the diarrhea, Parvati finally bought medicine from a nearby clinic and took it.

Buchan was working in Punjab when all the family members were suffering from diarrhea. He had requested his brother Devananda to take his father Laxman and son Sanjeev to Gajendra Narayan Singh Hospital in Rajbiraj, the district headquarters. According to Devananda, he returned home with the patient after receiving treatment for three days in the hospital and after running out of money, he said that he had returned home with the patient.

By then, Buchan had spent 26,000 rupees, including the 10,000 he had earned and sent from Punjab. Devananda said, 'When I returned from the hospital, I had only 200 rupees left in my pocket.' He said that while they were preparing for it, nephew Sanjeev died on Kartik 6 when his sister-in-law's family said that they would take Lahan for further treatment. Buchan returned from Punjab in a hurry after his newborn son died. But on the fifth day of his return, his father also died. After negotiating with the villagers, he started his father's charity. On the fifth day of his charity, his daughter Ragini also died last Friday. There was grief on top of grief in Buchan's house.

Buchan is now facing one grief after another. He is equally worried about how to feed his wife, 8-year-old son, and 5- and 3-year-old sons. Buchan is borrowing from his neighbors to cover his grocery expenses, but he still has the same problem of expenses.

He said that the problem at home is so serious that when Buchan was in Punjab, his brother Devananda had taken a loan of Rs 5,000 from a local shop by pledging two mobile phones. According to Devananda, he took the loan by pledging the mobile phone on the condition of paying interest of Rs 30 per day. When that money was used up in treatment, he said that he took an additional loan of Rs 3,000 from another local person. Devananda recalled his father saying, 'If you get tested, you will see many diseases.' He used to scold him, saying why should he get treatment. Even when he was taking medicine, he would say that the money was gone but he was not cured.' The rural municipality finally came to know about the incident only on Friday night, 8 days after the outbreak of diarrhea in Sada Tole. While the health post is about 1 kilometer away from Sada Tole. A team of health workers deployed on Saturday morning distributed medicines including Jeevan Jal and Metron tablets to 54 people in the village. Senior Ahab Dipendra Prasad Yadav, head of the health department of the rural municipality, said that three people have died from diarrhea and that it is not possible to say with certainty what caused the outbreak.