People in Cyclone Aila-affected areas are not getting adequate food, water and sanitation facilities, say Oxfam staff.
The flooded
village of Aftab Shana.
Cyclone survivors in Bangladesh are now facing a severe risk of disease as the supply of safe drinking water is reaching crisis levels. Cyclone Aila hit the
coast of Bangladesh on 25 May, affecting 3.6m people and leaving over 750,000 people homeless.The full picture of the devastation caused by the cyclone is only now emerging. Salt
water has contaminated nearly all the fresh water sources in the southwest of Bangladesh and has damaged around one third in central and southeastern districts.The sanitation systems have
collapsed in all the cyclone-affected areas and in addition human, animal and fish corpses are polluting the countryside.Heather Blackwell, head of Oxfam in Bangladesh, said: “The
cyclone-affected areas of Bangladesh are now an ideal breeding ground for all kinds of diseases. In many areas all the sources of fresh water have been polluted by the seawater, forcing people to
drink dirty water. This has already made thousands of people sick. Without urgent action many more will fall ill…Oxfam urges the international community to respond generously to help the cyclone
victims.”Oxfam is currently expanding its emergency response to reach 110,000 people in the most severely affected districts of Khulna and Shatkhira in south-west Bangladesh.
Rebecca and Mariam walking through the floods.
Rabeca and Mariam are first cousins from the village of Khutikata in Shatkhira. Their homes are still under water. “The
water came from the river, all salty.” Both the cousins walked over kilometres along the slippery mud road to the point where relief will be distributed.“We never had to come and
ask for help from others like this. We feel shy. If we don’t have anything to take back home, mother will scold, our fathers will be angry.”Meanwhile in cyclone-affected West
Bengal, relief measures will benefit 10,000 households, with plans of reaching a further 10,000 more in the coming days.An Oxfam India assessment team, which toured the affected districts
immediately after the cyclone, found that many people have taken shelter in schools and other buildings, as well as in the camps.Zubin Zaman, Humanitarian Response Manager, Oxfam India said:
“The families in the villages and in the camps are very much exposed to health problems. It was found in one of the camps that one toilet and one hand pump is serving the sanitation and drinking
water needs of almost 500 people”. “There is huge scarcity of safe drinking water for domestic use and cattle as all the ponds (the main water source) have been
contaminated by salt water. Most of these villages do not have sufficient number of hand pumps. Where they do have them, many pumps got polluted with salt water and other impurities,” informs
Zaman. Most of the homes in the area are mud houses with either thatched or tiled roofs. 95 per cent of these have been washed away. The houses still standing may soon fall down as
the mud will start drying up.Most of the people in these areas are dependent on vegetable farming, but they have lost their crops as saline flood water has inundated their fields. People in
some of the villages where water receded quickly have been able to save the stored food grains. But other villages have not been so lucky and are still facing severe food shortages.In pictures: The impact of Cyclone AilaDonate to Cyclone Aila response
Cyclone Aila:
Oxfam’s response More from the Oxfam Press Office at http://www.oxfam.org.uk/news
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
A woman looks out from a temporary shelter her family has relocated to after being displaced from their land by a tidal wave caused by cyclone Aila in Shatkhira June 3, ...
