WITH more than six million people having been directly affected by the flooding of Bangladesh鈥檚 east, north-east and south-east, public suffering continues as the government support has been visibly inadequate. Many still live in shelters and are struggling as their houses and livelihood came to be gravely affected. In Cumilla, one of the worst affected districts, about 86,000 houses are destroyed or damaged. The Department of Agricultural Extension says that of 1,35,238 hectares of crop land, 63,974 hectares are damaged and more than 23,000 fish farms in the districts are affected. The livestocks department estimates a Tk 300 crore loss. As the floodwaters began to recede, the government鈥檚 effort to help rebuild social and economic lives should have already been in place. That has, however, not been the case. Waterborne diseases that are common in the post-flooding period have already broken out and public hospitals are struggling to provide treatment for an increased number of diarrhoea patients. The government needs to step up its effort and adopt a multi-pronged approach that would provide equal importance to relief supplies and rebuilding activities.
The government installed on August 8 after the fall of the Awami League regime on August 5 has so far proved inefficient in providing immediate and emergency support for flood victims. There has been so far no concrete discussion on the post-flood recovery, especially for people who incurred major economic losses. Flood victims stranded in some remote localities still desperately wait for relief and medical support amid a complete breakdown of the communications system. The district administration and the army have been providing flood shelter and relief, but compared with the scale of devastation and magnitude of public suffering, the government relief effort so far has been insignificant. As the government is yet to arrange additional human resources, physicians and nurses to attend to patients with diarrhoea, skin infection, cold and fever in flood-hit areas, citizens are organising health camps to provide health support for the victims, but they are doing so without institutional support. The government also needs to restore the road communications in the affected areas. While the full extent of the infrastructural damage is not established yet, initial estimates say that 6,542 kilometres of road were damaged and 1,066 bridges and culverts destroyed.
It is high time that the government took a comprehensive flood relief and recovery plan and ensured immediate and equitable access for the victims to support. The government must also announce a long-term economic support plan with the provision of free seed, fertiliser and food aid so that people can focus on rebuilding.聽It should also consider strengthening institutional frameworks to ensure a better coordination among public agencies and invest in modern weather forecasting and early warning systems, especially for rapid-onset disasters such as flash floods.
