The New Nation - Internet Edition

IN a prompt response to the dire need of the worst affected Sidr-survivors, World Food Programme (WFP) of United Nations has come up in a big way with an announcement of a 52-million US dollar plan to provide emergency food aid to 2.2 million affected people. The aim of WFP is to prevent the incidence of malnutrition in the region. A recent UN assessment found these people in need of immediate food assistance. On November 15 super cyclone Sidr ravaged 34 south and southwestern districts, with people of 5 of those being the worst affected, and caused a colossal loss of lives and properties. It left about 4,000 people dead. Several thousand others are missing while 35,000 people are reported injured. Crops worth about Tk. 2000 crore on some 5.53 lakh hectares of land have been damaged. Most people of the affected areas have been rendered jobless. Their crops were almost completely damaged before the harvest. The tidal surge washed away whatever food stocks they had. The people are in dire need for immediate help. They are under serious threat of malnutrition and other health problems.

A lean period of food shortage prevails in Bangladesh before the Aman harvest, as stocks of crops dwindle. According to WFP, this leads to 15 percent increase in acute malnutrition rates. If there happens to be a natural calamity prior to a harvest, the food shortage and malnutrition rates get multiplied. An acute food insecurity had been prevailing before relief works could be started in the cyclone-hit areas. WFP has come forward with support to feed the worst affected people for six months. Such an initiative could not come at a better time. This urgent and timely initiative of the World Food Programme has been matched by a government declaration that all the families in the affected areas would be provided with food grains through the Vulnerable Group Feeding (VGF) programme till the next harvest. The feeding programme is supposed to ensure food security for them, at least in part, and serve as a respite before they can initiate their own income generating activities.

Rehabilitation works alongside immediate relief operations have become urgent in the cyclone-affected districts. The government is planning a massive programme to rebuild shattered homes and infrastructure with support from donors. It is believed that such efforts would help revive the economy in the affected regions. The people should be given interest-free loans so that they can recuperate losses and resume their own professions. WFP's support to feed the people of the most affected areas during the difficult days that they are now passing through would embolden the efforts of the government and local communities to rehabilitate them.