Hundreds of thousands of flood victims are passing their days half-fed or without food as relief supplies sent to flood affected districts fell far short of the demand.
Stranded at home, sunk in several feet of floodwaters, flood victims are caught in a situation where cooking was not an option any more while they do not have the means to travel miles across the flooded land to buy dry foods.
Scarcity of drinking water is another problem in the 15 flood affected districts where many local government representatives have failed to stand by their electorate in this time of need.
‘I got nothing from the government to distribute among the flood victims,’ Mofazzal Hossain, chairman of Rajpur union parishad, Lalmonirhat Sadar upazila, told New Age correspondent in Lalmonirhat.
Mofazzal’s electorate has been under water for the last six days and so far people in the area managed to get by helping each other, eating barely enough to survive.
However, after spending nearly a week submerged by floodwaters, with Teesta and Dharla still flowing nearly half a metre above the danger level, flood victims of Rajpur union are losing their patience.
‘Now people have started blaming me for their sufferings,’ said Mofazzal.
‘They don’t believe the government can sit back and relax while they are suffering. They think I am embezzling relief supplies,’ he said.
The prime minister and her cabinet members have repeatedly boasted of having prepared enough to tackle the floods and stand by the victims anywhere in the country.
The state minister for disaster and relief Enamur Rahman announced from a press conference in the capital Dhaka on Friday that government had enough resources and preparation to help the flood victims.
The government disaster report published online Saturday showed that among more than 6.30 lakh flood victims in 15 districts only 867 tonnes of rice, 19,813 dry food packets and Tk 9.25 lakh were so far distributed.
The actual number of flood affected people and districts are higher. Newspaper reports show over a million people have been marooned by flooding in 20 districts.
New Age correspondent in Lalmonirhat reported that one lakh was marooned in the northern district alone.
Rokeya Begum, a resident of Gobordhan village, Aditmari, moved to a nearby embankment after she lost her home to river erosion.
‘Only Allah knows how I survived till today,’ said Rokeya, who could not save anything from her home lost to the river.
Lalmonirhat deputy commissioner Ahasan Habib admitted that the government could hardly help flood victims at this time of need.
He distributed 110 tonnes of rice, Tk 2.5 lakh in cash and 553 dry food packets.
‘It was nothing compared to the demand,’ said Habib.
New Age correspondent in Kurigram said that about one lakh people in 20 villages have been marooned in the district.
Hundreds of flood victims have taken shelter on embankments in the district and received no relief so far.
More villages are at risk of inundation any moment as embankments that protect three upazilas from flooding could get washed away at various points.
New Age correspondent in Bogura reported that fresh areas went under water in the district after the river Jamuna reached above the danger level.
New Age correspondent in Chattogram reported that about nine lakh people were affected by flooding in the district.
In Khagrachari at least 3,000 families were affected by flooding, she said.
The hilly district of Bandarban remained cut off from rest of the country for the last four days.
The Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre, in a special bulletin in the evening, said that fresh areas in central Bangladesh would get flooded over the next five days.
It said that north eastern district would likely to remain under floodwaters throughout the third week of July.
In its afternoon bulletin, the warning centre said that major rivers would continue to swell over the next three days because of heavy to very heavy rains inside Bangladesh and in Assam and Meghalaya in the upstream.
The centre also predicted heavy rains in India’s Bihar and Nepal during the same time.
Flooding has taken a devastating turn in neighbouring Nepal and India with reports of many deaths.
The centre said that 14 major rivers in the country were flowing above the danger levels at 25 points.
Surma, Kushiyara, Manu, Dhalai, Khwai, Someswari, Kanghsa, Brahmaputra, Sangu and Matamuhuri are among the rivers flowing above the danger levels.
The warning centre recorded country’s highest rainfall of 250 mms in 24 hours ending at 9:00am at Shrimongol. Panchagarh received 200 mms of rain during the same time while Tangail, Dhaka, Cumilla received above 100 mms of rain.
Narishingdi received 208 mms of rain during the same time, the centre said.
The Met Office recorded country’s highest rainfall of 195 mms in 24 hours till 6:00pm at Dimla in Rangpur.
The Met Office predicted moderate rain across Rangpur, Mymensingh, Chattogram and Sylhet divisions in next 24 hours till 6:00pm Monday.
Bangladesh Water Development Board in a media statement announced that it ordered officials to remain in their stations round the clock until the situation improved.
The water development board said that leaves of all officials have been cancelled.
