The New Nation - Internet Edition

THE Director General of the Bangladesh Water Development Board, at a press conference stated the other day that twenty-two districts of the north-eastern zone have been affected by floods. The floods have not only damaged crops on farmlands but also hearths and homes of millions of people. Even some flood shelters and healthcare centres in affected zones have been damaged.

As the duration of the floods has become longer their after effects have appeared in the scene. Children and women who have gone to flood shelters in different zones, have remained without food or taken polluted water for meeting their thirst. These people have become victims of diseases including diarrhoea, fever and influenza. They do not get services in rural healthcare centres wherefrom doctors and nurses have also moved away for safety. Those who have left their damaged and flooded homes remain in shelters with inadequate supply of food and medicine. Mothers carrying their children across the flooded zones look for shelters. In such a context, the onus of providing service and food and shelter for affected people falls upon the local government bodies and offices of the Ministry of Food and Disaster Management.

The hapless people, who turn penniless due to damages of their assets, hamlets and crops have to be urgently provided with necessary support from philanthropists in the society and official agencies. Disaster response and healthcare services should be strengthened with assurance of service from doctors and nurses and supply of medicine for treatment of diseases, so that outbreak of epidemics does not follow the floods as double disaster for the victims.