Little relief for flood-hit people

Though the government’s emergency relief supplies apparently put a little bit of smile on the faces of people badly affected by the ongoing floods in northern and north-eastern regions of the country, the amount of aid an individual victim receives is too scanty to meet their needs. The government has allocated 3.18kg rice and Tk10 as general relief to a victim. According to the Department of Disaster Management (DDM), the flooding has left 1,140,849 families – involving a total of 5,018,706 people — severely affected in 27 districts in the regions. Asked if the amount of relief allotted to a victim would suffice to meet his or her needs, DDM Director Abu Sayed Mohamamd Hashim told the Dhaka Tribune: “It may seem to you that we have allocated a small amount of relief supplies, but the people are getting more than allocated.” “Not all of the affected will come to take the aid because many do not feel comfortable with taking relief and assistance from the government or other agencies thanks to their social status. Hence, those who are going to take the relief supplies are certainly getting much more than expected,” he explained. The government allocated 16,004 tonnes of rice (16,004,000kgs) and Tk49,881,950 as relief. The district authorities concerned said they had already distributed a considerable amount of the emergency relief, but our district correspondents found a large number of the flood victims complaining that they had not received relief materials yet. Asked about this, Hashim said: “The government has been distributing relief supplies through elected public representatives at the union parishad level. They are distributing the materials according to the people’s needs. “Some people may be missed out. In such case, they should contact the local authorities involved in the distribution process.” The money and rice apart, the government allocated some 36,500 packets contacting dry food items, drinking water, matchboxes and candles. So far, 77 people died and 14 others went missing in the devastating floods that have been continuing for over a week.

Agricultural Damage

According to the DDM data, the monsoon floods, trigged by incessant downpours in catchment areas of the Brahmaputra and Ganges rivers, caused damage to 618,709 hectares of cropland. The damaged crops include Aman on 8,000 hectares and Aush on 8,000 hectares of land.

Flood situation

According to Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre (FFWC), floodwaters have been receding into different areas from the northern districts including Gaibandha, Bogra and Sirajganj. A FFWC bulletin on Saturday said water levels are rising in the Ganges and Kushiyara and falling in the Brahmaputra-Jamuna and Surma rivers. It added that water levels in the Ganges are likely to further increase in the next 48 hours. “Floodwaters have started flowing into the Brahmaputra and Surma rivers. As of on Saturday, it was receding at a rate of one foot per day, which indicates that the flooding will not continue for a longer period as expected,” said Sazzad Hossain, executive engineer of the FFWC. However, water is still flowing above the danger level at 28 out of 90 measuring stations in all three basins including the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna. At the same time, water levels have risen at 36 points in rivers across the country. Water is flowing 75cm above the danger level at Bahadurabad points of the Jamauna river, 76cm at Sariakandi points, 116cm at Kazipur points and 118cm at Sirajganj points of the Jamuna, and 106cm at Goalanda poits and at 49cm at Bhagyakul points of the Padma.