The moderate cold wave that has been sweeping across the country for the past few days is likely to turn severe from today, the Met Office has warned.
The weather will start to warm up again after a couple of days but the feeling of cold would remain for a few more days because of strong winds, said Rubayet Kabir, a meteorologist at the Met Office.
The cautionary words came as the country’s lowest temperature yesterday was recorded in Chuadanga: a chilling 6.1 degrees Celsius, which is also the lowest recorded this winter.
The poor who do not have warm clothes were the worst sufferers as bone-chilling winds made the cold more intolerable in Chuadanga yesterday, our local correspondent reports.
Most people in Chuadanga chose to stay indoors, with public transports seeing only a few passengers throughout the day.
The northern districts also experienced dips in mercury, with the coldest weather after Chuadanga being recorded in Rajshahi, Pabna’s Ishwardi, and Dinajpur at 6.6, 7.4 and 8 degrees Celsius respectively, according to the Met Office.
Meteorologist Rubayet Kabir said the northern and western parts of the country have been the most affected by the current spell of cold wave.
The situation is relatively better in Dhaka city, where yesterday’s lowest temperature was 11.4 degrees Celsius.
According to the Met Office, mercury level between 8-10 degrees Celsius is considered as mild cold wave, between 6-8 degrees as moderate cold wave and below 6 degrees is considered as severe cold wave.
Meanwhile, our correspondent in Lalmonirhat says locals there are confined in their homes because of the numbing cold outside. As a result, the labourers who must work on the fields every day to earn a living have been out of food.
Shops in the area are staying shut, while people’s presence on the roads also remain thin.
However, the worst suffering is because the poor just simply do not have enough warm clothes.
“No one is giving us a blanket. Thousands are passing extreme hardships in the Char areas. We have not even received any government-sanctioned blankets,” said Afzal Hossain, a labourer who resides near the banks of the river Teesta.
Lalmonirhat Deputy Commissioner Habibur Rahman admitted that the number of warm clothes received from the government has not been adequate this year. He urged industries, banks and welfare organisations to donate more warm clothes to the people in dire need.
“We are not lucky enough to have a piece of blanket to wrap ourselves with. We do not even have any warm cloth. I fear we might not survive this winter,” said 60-year-old Sabran Bewa, a woman of Bhelakopa in Kurigram, which is also bearing the brunt of the cold wave.
The children and the elderly are the most vulnerable, with the suffering especially worse for the people in remote Char areas who are cut off from relief initiatives.
“The Boro season has begun, but we cannot plant the seedlings. There are just no labourers willing to work in this shivering cold,” said local farmer Jabbar Ali, as Kurigram yesterday recorded its lowest temperature of 9 degrees Celsius.
Abul Hossain, a local day-labourer, said even when he had no other choice but to go out and look for work, he was being forced to take frequent breaks and warm himself up.
However, a couple of day’s delay in planting seedlings would not hurt this year’s Boro harvest, assured Deputy Director Md Shawkat Ali of Kurigram’s Department of Agricultural Extension.
The district’s Deputy Commissioner Khan Md Nurul Amin told the Dhaka Tribune that his office has so far distributed 30,000 blankets among the poor. If the cold wave continues, they would seek further relief from the government, the DC said.
Meanwhile, like other districts, the destitute and the day-labourers are suffering the most in Naogaon.
Ansar Ali, 42, has to feed his family of five by pulling a rickshaw every day in Naogaon town; but he has seen his daily earnings plummet as there are not enough passengers because of the harsh winter.
Our Naogaon correspondent also says many of the locals have fallen ill from cold-related ailments.
The children and the elders are mostly suffering from diarrhoea, pneumonia and flu as the cold intensifies.
Over the past week, more than 500 patients have been admitted in 11 upazila health complexes and Naogaon Sadar Hospital, said the district’s Civil Surgeon Dr AKM Mozahar Hossain.
A similar surge in cold-related illnesses was also reported by our Comilla correspondent.
Resident medical officer at Comilla General Hospital, Dr Salahuddin Mahmud, said most elderly and child patients were suffering from breathing problems or diarrhoea. For every six seats for diarrhoea patients, the hospital is currently treating 16, the doctor added.
