he situation is still critical mainly in the rural areas of the central districts of the nation”,
comments Benedict Alo D’Rozario, head of the recuperation and development
program of the Caritas Center in Dhaka, in regard to the violent flooding that struck Bangladesh over the past three weeks, so far claiming 628 lives. Based on estimates provided yesterday by Dhaka’s Food and Disaster Management Minister, Chowdhury Kamal Ibne Yusuf, the flood waters have submerged two thirds of the nation, leaving 30-million people homeless or stranded. A higher toll was registered only in 1998, when over 700 people died.
Minister Yusouf said that 20 million people will be "needing food assistance" (1/7 of the entire population) from the government until December. “We are getting international assistance in addition to our own food stocks”, added the Minister, assuring that “starvation is unlikely”. Bangladeshi authorities have estimated damages in the amount of $6.7bn. “The waters are receding gradually, but it will be weeks before the land dries, always if more rains do not move in from India”, explained to MISNA Benedict Alo D’Rozario.
“The main emergency now regards the necessary food and medicine to cure illnesses such as diarrhea and dysentery, spreading rapidly particularly among the children. While in regard to the textile sector (which represents 80% of exportations in Bangladesh) the situation is preoccupying: tens of thousands of people, for the most part women, lost their jobs and the cost of basic necessities has escalated. Also the agricultural sector suffered heavy losses and no new harvests are predicted before five months”.
Caritas Bangladesh is conducting a program for the assistance of some 40,000 families affected by the flooding. “We have so far assisted around 30,000 and aim to promptly complete the operation. As soon as possible we will also launch a food-for-work program, providing food aid in exchange for work in reconstructing the destroyed homes, repair damaged infrastructures and clean the rubble from the disaster zones. Our aim is to give back to the families the dignity of working to maintain their children and return to normality”, concluded the director of the recuperation and development program of the Caritas Center of Dhaka.
Meanwhile, the UNICEF (UN Child’s Fund) launched an appeal for new funds for the acquisition of tablets to purify the drinking water and medicine for children. The $13-million considered necessary to confront the emergency by the UN agency, will also got toward health interventions, water provisions and the protection of minors at risk. Bangladesh counts a population of 140-million people, 35% of which living in extreme poverty. The average annual income is of $400. The heavy monsoon rains and flooding also struck east Nepal and the two Indian States of Bihar and Assam (around 700 dead) and on a lower scale China, North Korea, South Korea, Japan, the Philippines and Vietnam.
(From MISNA)