Assam has lived with floods for generations. The Brahmaputra has always shaped the state’s geography, economy and culture, periodically overflowing its banks to replenish fertile plains while also bringing destruction. But when a disaster is described as the worst in decades, it is no longer enough to treat it as another chapter in a familiar seasonal cycle. The question is not whether Assam will flood again.

It is whether India is prepared for a future in which such catastrophes become more frequent, more intense and far more expensive. The temptation after every major flood is to measure success by the speed of rescue operations and the quantity of relief distributed. Those efforts are indispensable and deserve recognition. Yet relief is only the first stage of governance. The real test begins after the floodwaters recede, when families must rebuild homes, farmers must reclaim fields buried under silt, roads and bridges must be restored, schools reopened and livelihoods revived.

For thousands of low-income households, the loss is not merely material; it represents years of savings erased in a matter of........

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