There has been a major outbreak of diarrhoea and skin diseases in Sylhet in the aftermath of the recent flooding, as more than 12,000 tube wells providing clean drinking water have been damaged by the inundation.
Residents of the district are now forced to use polluted flood water for drinking, bathing and other everyday uses.
Alamgir Hossain, executive engineer at the Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE), said besides tube wells, more than 78,000 toilets in the district had also been damaged.
“Apart from that, 6,500 metres of water supply pipelines have been damaged in Zakiganj and Gowainghat upazilas, with an estimated loss of Tk20 crore,” he added.
Alamgir said the DPHE was now providing clean water through mobile water treatment plants to tackle the water crisis.
Each of these treatment plants can purify 600 litres of water per hour, and the treated water is distributed for 10-12 hours every day to several villages and cities.
According to DPHE sources, the program has been going on for 10 days in Kanaighat and for seven days in Gowainghat and Companiganj.
Department of Public Health Engineering authorities provide clean water at Sylhet Kanaighat upazila Saturday, May 28, 2022 Dhaka TribuneTara Mia, a resident of Putamara village in Companiganj, said the tube well near his home had been submerged in polluted and malodorous floodwater, but people had no option but to drink water from it.Other residents of the village were also using the same water for bathing and personal hygiene, causing water-borne diseases, he added.
A similar situation has been reported in Putamara, Shibpur, Bishnupur, Kalapara and other villages, where roads are submerged in flood water, and the only reliable mode of transportation for people is small boats.
A resident of Putamara village, Isbar Ali, said several villagers were showing symptoms of various skin diseases after using the floodwater.
Meanwhile, 60-year-old Joti Biswas of Shibpur village said her house had been completely destroyed in the flooding, and that her family had been living off dry food for the past few days.
According to the Sylhet civil surgeon's office, 620 people in the district are suffering from diarrhoea, with 57 being diagnosed with the disease on Friday.
Sylhet Deputy Civil Surgeon Dr Janmejoy Datta said the residents of Sylhet were also at the risk of facing jaundice, malaria or dengue outbreaks.
He urged the flood-affected to boil water before drinking it and maintain proper hygiene in these trying times.
Meanwhile, as many as 140 medical teams have dispatched to the 13 upazilas of the district -- all declared as diarrhoea-prone -- to provide medical assistance to the flood-hit locales, reports UNB.
