Cries of babies filled flood shelters, particularly where the presence of infants is high, for they are starving amidst the ongoing flood persisting in some areas despite all rivers dropping below their danger mark.
Some of these babies have been in flood shelters for a week now with their half-fed mothers failing to produce enough breast milk. The baby food distributed in relief includes biscuits and banana which a six-month old is unable to consume.
鈥楤abies are crying non-stop and this is unbearable,鈥� said Uajala Chakma, the upazila nirbahi officer of Monohorganj, Cumilla.
Ujala referred to two flood shelters under her supervision鈥� Bhorosha High School and Nishikanto High School鈥攚here out of 660 people taking refuge 220 are babies.
Babies bear the brunt of the flash flood, alongside the elderly people, that continued in the eastern, south-eastern and north-eastern districts as they caught cold and fever and did not have access to medical attention in most of the places.
Cramped in shelters lacking basic hygiene, exposed to non-stop mosquito bites, babies are taking ill more than anyone with their stay in the flood shelters likely to linger.
Despite the Gumti River, the last among the rivers that triggered the latest flash flood on August 19 to drop below its danger mark, the flood situation in Cumilla worsened.
抖阴精品 correspondent in Cumilla reported that 40,000 people were newly affected by the flash flood in Nangalkot upazila and Monohorganj.
The massive volume of water that entered for days through breached embankments kept spreading inland affecting new areas. The flash flood in the Gumti basin was triggered by heavy rain and compounded by India reportedly releasing water from a hydroelectric project in Tripura.
The relief operation by volunteers in Cumilla was seriously affected by the prevalence of robbers as a serious lack of security prevailed in the flood-affected areas.
Of the 17 upzilas in the district 14 have been flooded.
Noakhali district relief and rehabilitation officer Zahid Hasan Khan said that the flood situation in the district worsened taking the overall affected population to 21 lakh.
The Department of Disaster Management鈥檚 daily flood situation report showed that on Wednesday the number of overall flood-affected people increased by about 2 lakh to 58.22 lakh, compared with the day before, in 11 districts.
The number of people stranded also slightly increased to 12.27 lakh.
The number of death, on the other hand, increased to 31 on Wednesday from 27 the day before. Of the deaths, Cumilla recorded the highest 12 deaths, Noakhali recorded six deaths, Chattogram five deaths, Cox鈥檚 Bazar three deaths, Feni two deaths, and Khagrachhari, Brahmanbaria and Laksjmipur one death each.
The Department of Disaster Management said that so far Tk 4.52 crore was distributed in cash help to the flood-affected people. The government also distributed 20,650 tonnes of rice, 15,000 packets of dry food, and Tk 70 lakh equally distributed for baby food and fodder.
The Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre predicted that the flashy rivers would continue to drop.
In the 24 hours until 6:00pm, Bangladesh鈥檚 highest rainfall of 72mm was recorded in Maizdi Court in Noakhali.
