Help pouring in, but reaching flood victims still a challenge

For the past few days, almost 700 people took shelter in the Bhabanipur Government Primary School in Daganbhuiyan, Feni. Three days ago, they got hold of four kilos of dry cheera (flattened rice). Without any electricity, mobile network and food, the situation was unbearable. 

On 25 August (Sunday), when the water level receded, Tarek, one of the volunteers from the village, finally managed a pickup van and went to the Daganbhuiyan Main Bazar and collected some bread and sugar from As Sunnah Foundation.

"One of my elder brothers sent Tk22,000. I bought rice, lentils and oil with the money and now I am going back to the shelter. No organisation came to us, the children are starving and there is no pure water drink," he told us, sounding frustrated.   

During our field visit to Feni to see the flood situation, the roads in Mohipal were knee deep under water. While there were some dry areas, travelling around was almost impossible because almost everything was submerged.

At present, there are hundreds of trucks filled with relief and crowded with volunteers in Feni and other flood affected districts.

Whenever someone communicated with us regarding relief distribution, we suggested they speak with the DC or the UNO. Because they know about the population and the needs of their designated areas. Even in TSC, where the anti-discrimination students are collecting relief, they are coordinating with us and representatives from our department are always there. Therefore, we suggest that whoever wants to go with relief, coordinate with the DCs and UNOs

Razwanur Rahman, Director General of the Department of Disaster Management

And as we have seen in the past few days, the TSC area in Dhaka University has become a hub for relief materials. Everyone is donating money, food, clothes and much more.  

But how much of the relief is actually reaching the flood-affected people? 

The volunteers have managed to collect the relief, sort and pack, and even arrange transport to travel to the flooded regions. However, once they reach there, due to a lack of communication between volunteers and the local administration, distributing the relief is becoming a challenge, especially in the remote areas.

We witnessed such mismanagement during our visit to various flooded areas in Feni and Cumilla. We interviewed dozens of people in various shelter centres and locals, who shared with us that many flood victims have spent days without receiving any meaningful assistance.

Deputy Commissioner and District Magistrate of Feni, Musammat Shahina Akter, however, said,  "We are trying our best to distribute relief materials, please give us some time."   

Meanwhile, under the foot overbridge in Mohipal, we met some flood affected workers. Md Abu Sayeed had come from Barishal with 15 others in search of work on 18 August (Sunday) and the next morning, the city went under water.

"For the first two days, I only ate muri (puffed rice). On Tuesday noon, volunteers gave us biriyani in the shelter centre. Since then, we have been eating cheera, muri, and bread," Sayed told us.  

Md Robiul is also from Barishal, who came to Feni for work. He said, "We do not have a single penny in our pocket, cannot even go back to Barishal. We cannot charge our mobile phones, as there is no electricity here for the last few days. We cannot even call our parents back home to inform them of our whereabouts." 

Md Monirul stood at the Mohipal Bazar with a poster in hand that said he was looking for Md Arman. Monirul came from Chattagram to look for this man who was his acquaintance.

"Arman is from Netrokona and he works here in Noapara. There is no one that can come from Netrokona to search for him, that is why I came here", Monirul said.

From the bazar area, we took a rickshaw to the shelter centre mentioned by Sayed and Robiul. According to volunteers, currently, there are 150-200 people staying there. Many of them are rickshaw or cycle van pullers and they are suffering from lack of food and bathroom facilities.

Rabeya Begum, who had come from Rangpur, said, "I had diarrhoea. Then we managed to boil some water to drink. I feel a bit better after having cheera with boiled rice. By the grace of the Almighty, everyone in my family is in good health. If only we had food, it would have been better."

Another man, Panna, said, "The children were in water for four to five hours so they caught cold and fever. We managed some medicine yesterday but it was not enough for everyone."

One of the local volunteers said, "There are a lot of people stuck here with too little food to eat. However, the conditions in Syedpur and other remote areas are even worse."

According to him, the situation in Feni Sadar and Mohipal is better than before as the water is receding. "Yesterday, we came here by boats to distribute food and other relief materials. The water reached our chest. Today it's knee level."

But the volunteer said that people in more remote areas are crying for help. "People coming from Dhaka with relief are going towards Chattogram through Sonagazi, they are not coming here. But those living in Rampur, in the 14 and 17 wards, desperately need food."

Madhuri Akter, another flood victim, said, "We have been managing with some muri since yesterday, but the children only had a packet of biscuits in the morning. How are they going to survive with so little?"

When we were speaking with her, volunteers from a foundation came to the centre with khichuri. They requested everyone to send only one person from each family to stand in the queue. There was not enough food so if more than one person came, others would be deprived.

Neighbours Shefali and Nahida came to the shelter with their children. "Some of our neighbours have two to three-storey buildings, and they survived by moving upstairs. But our tin roof houses drowned in the flood water so we had to come here," they said.

Another woman, Rabeya, said since they never experienced this type of flood, they did not realise how quickly the situation would worsen.  

"This is why we didn't come to the shelter earlier. By the time we realised that there was no other way, it was already too late to save anything," she said.

We spoke with the Director General of the Department of Disaster Management, Razwanur Rahman, who said that the DC (District Commissioner) is the chief designated officer for relief distribution and they are accompanied by DROs (Disaster Relief Officers). The UNO (Upazila Nirbahi Officer) and the PIO (Public Information Officer) work at the upazila level.

"Whenever someone communicated with us regarding relief distribution, we suggested they speak with the DC or the UNO. Because they know about the population and the needs of their designated areas. Even in TSC, where the anti-discrimination students are collecting relief, they are coordinating with us and representatives from our department are always there. Therefore, we suggest that whoever wants to go with relief, coordinate with the DCs and UNOs," he said.

He also mentioned that the Army is working in areas where it is tough to reach and they are helping with logistics, transportation etc.