No respite for flood victims

In the 32 districts across the country affected by floods in August, low income families are still left without sources of viable income. Although the floodwater receded over a month ago, their suffering appears to have only begun. Many who were looking forward to good harvests this year have now resorted to low-paid and sometimes hazardous manual labour to feed their families. The harvest in November that would have provided employment to thousands is all but gone as the floods destroyed the Aman paddy in its early stages. The government’s emergency response to ease sufferings of flood victims by providing emergency relief, dry food and medicine has done little to allay the looming uncertainty over income. By official accounts, about 7.94 million people, about one-twentieth of the country’s population, have been affected by the August floods, most of them in North Bengal. Over 700,000 homes were entirely or partially destroyed, crops and fisheries worth crores were lost and at least 150 people were killed. Many people in the northern districts are now considering migrating to Dhaka due to the severe unemployment in the region. The landless poor who used to work on farms or in homes are unable to even afford the food needed for three square meals a day. “My husband died years ago. I have to work as a labourer to feed my children. My job is gone since the August due to hasty flood which has ruined everything,” Jamirun, an elderly mother of three children in Jatrapur union under Kurigram district said. “The Brahmaputra River has swallowed my house and everything I had. Since the flood I have received 10kg rice and a bundle of tin from government relief, but that is hardly anything. Our meals now are rice and salt,” she told the Dhaka Tribune. Jamirun bitterly complained that what little aid the villagers were receiving from some NGOs and individual donors had disappeared with the receding floodwater. Mohammad Billal Hossain, from the same union, used to be a prosperous farmer. Over the last 15 years, he has lost more than 15 acres of arable land to river erosion. This summer, in a last ditch attempt to turn his luck around, Billal borrowed money and a little piece of land from one of his neighbours to sow some paddy. But fate was not his friend. “The flood was like hell. I have not seen such devastation in my lifetime. Many people died and thousands were displaced overnight when it came,” Billal said. Despite having three houses in his homestead, Billal said that he had built another last year for his newly married son and his wife. But when the flood came, three houses were completely washed away. “I managed to save only one house with the help of my neighbours,” Billal said. He is considering heading to Dhaka in search of work. “My two sons have started working as carpenters in my village but I am jobless right now. I am thinking of going to Munshiganj next month to work in the potato fields,” he told the Dhaka Tribune. A situation report issued by the Department of Disaster Management (DDM) in September said at least 104,949 hectares of crop were completely ravaged by the flood and a some 498,660 hectares were partly ruined. The floods damaged 949 bridges and culverts, and 70,705 tube-wells. In Lalmonirhat district last week, this correspondent found a large number of flood victims working in stone crushing mills spread around Burimari upazila, a remote region on the Indian border. The job is hazardous and risky owing to the dust it generates, the heavy machinery and the large rocks. But it is the only option the ultra-poor from the flood-hit areas in Lalmonirhat have left now. Mahbub Alam, a middle-aged fish farmer from Patgram upazila, said he lost all his assets when the fish in his ponds were washed way with the floodwater. Right now he is working as a day labourer in a stone crushing mill in Burimari. “All of my ponds were completely washed away. I had borrowed money to farm the fish. Half the money is still unpaid but I have nothing to pay them back with,” Mahbub said. “There are no jobs here either. With no other option left, I started working here in this stone crushing mill. They pay me Tk300-350 for a day’s work. Hundreds of people like me are working here. We know the job is dangerous for our health, but what choice do we have?” he said. Anwar Kabir, a resident of Dohogram union in the upazila said that the government had done little to ease the sufferings of poor flood victims beyond some relief distribution. “Nobody cares about the sorrows and struggles of poor people. The government has distributed some food and bundles of tins among the flood victims but that has not reached everyone,” he said. “Hundreds of thousands of people have become jobless after the flood but we are yet to get necessary support from the government to minimise the losses and turn around again,” Anwar said. Disaster management officials disagree, saying their support to the flood victims has continued and everybody would be brought under coverage. According to the department’s officials, the government has allotted 27,207 metric tons of rice for the 32 flood-hit districts, of which 17,721 metric tons has already been distributed among victims. The government has also allotted total Tk8.92 crore in cash relief. For 7.94 million victims, this translates to about Tk12 per head. Of this only about Tk5.67 crore has been distributed so far, DDM sources said. When contacted, Kurigram’s Jatrapur Union Chairman Ayub Ali Sarker said that at least 300 people had been displaced in his constituency due to the devastating flood and more than 30,000 people were trapped in water in his union. “The affected people received a little relief from the government and the NGOs. Now the villagers are looking for jobs, but what can we do for them if there is no allocation from the government,” the UP chairman said. Director General (DG) of DDM Md Reaz Ahmed told the Dhaka Tribune: “We have sent sufficient relief including 50,000 bundles of tin and cash money to each affected district. The relief goods and cash distribution is still underway according to people’s needs. “The government has also allotted a budget for programmes for the poor people, like Test Relief or TR and Food for Work or Kabikha. Unemployed people would benefit from these programmes.”