SAN-Feature Service
SOUTH ASIAN NEWS-FEATURE SERVICE
December 18,2007
Cyclone Sidr and Tidal Surge 2007: Our Responsibility
Muhammed Kamal Uddin
There is no force on this planet to suppress and silence people's voice. Let us learn from history and act accordingly
SAN-Feature Service : The devastating cyclonic storm Sidr and tidal surge with all its ferocity ravaged the south west regions of Bangladesh from the afternoon of Thursday - the 15th of November through the morning of Friday – the 16th of November, 2007. The worst affected districts were Barguna, Bagerhat, Patuakhali, Barishal, Bhola, Jhalakathi,Satkhira, Khulna, Pirojpur, Madaripur and Gopalganj. The other affected districts were Shariatpur, Chandpur, Lakshmipur, Noakhali, Chittagong and Cox'sbazar.
It is feared that more than 10,000 people have been killed by the hurricane and tidal surge. Tens of thousands of people have been injured and missing because of the cyclone. The furies of the tidal surge and cyclonic storm washed and blew away millions of houses and habitations, fishing boats, educational institutions, markets, shops,business establishments, bazars, livestock and poultry populations. It flattened millions of acres of pady and crop lands and trees leaving behind a trail of horrors, deaths, damages and destructions.
Preliminary estimates made by government and non–government organizations reveals that more than 20 million people have been badly affected by this catastrophic hurricane. The worst hit victims of this devastating cyclone were fisherfolk communities, landless labourers and workers, small peasants and share croppers and marginalized professionals those who were compelled to live for their means of livelihoods in the coastal areas, very much prone to cyclone, tidal surge, tsunami, hurricane without cyclone shelters. They number of worst hit families would be about 3 million, according to the preliminary estmates.
The number of deaths and causalities among woman, elderly people, physically challenged and children were large for obvious reasons. Urgent needs of the traumatized victims are food, water, Medicare, utensils and shelters. They also need rehabilitations and long term support for their survival as the tidal surge washed away everything. Many of the victims lost fishing boats and nets. The peasants lost their crops. The agricultural workers and landless labourers and share croppers have no activities during this paddy harvesting period as paddy fields, crop lands and plants of vegetables were washed away and razed to the ground.
The victims of the cyclone and tidal surge are totally jobless, helpless, shelter less and literally starving to death. The price of all essential commodities including rice, wheat, flour, potato, vegetables, edible oil, pulse, onions etc. went beyond the purchasing power of the common people. Infact, all the people of Bangladesh have been suffering from the sky rocketting prices of all commodities since the reign of Khaleda – Nizami from 2001 - 2006.
Unfortunately, the present military-supported govt. also could not do anything about bringing down the prices of all essential commodities for the good of the common people for the last one year. Instead, the prices of all commodities went further up beyond absolutely the purchasing capacities of the poor and powerless. Today one kg of potato cost the people of Bangladesh taka 32 to 35 although the middlemen and the owners of the cold storage industries with money taken from banks at low interests purchased per kg potato as low as only for taka 3 / 4 during the harvesting period depriving the growers from fair price for their products. Plenty of potatoes have been stored in the cold storages to meet the needs of the entire population and none of the cold storage was affected by floods and cyclone Sidr.If the present military led govt. could control the owners of the cold storages and their allies , potato could be one important item of relief materials . But govt. failed here too.
Cyclone and tidal surge compounded the sorrows and sufferings of the poor and common people in the affected areas. Moreover, two – third of Bangladesh , the north and the central regions, suffered havocs of severe flooding consecutively twice during the months of August and September 2007. And again before the woes and wounds of severe twin floods could be healed and sufferings of the flood stricken people could be mitigated, the onslaughts of one of most devastating cyclone and tidal surge of the recent time shattered Bangladesh again. It wrecked the entire of the south-west coastal areas of Bangladesh including the world largest mangrove heritage 'Sundaban'. It has been roughly estimated that one fifth of the mangrove with its innumerable trees, plants , herbs and wild life was washed away by the Sidr.
Our responsibilities were enormous to save even one life and his/her properties of the victims of Sidr catastrophes. We must be ashamed of failing in our duties to save lives and properties of the coastal people from the havocs of cyclone Sidr in spite of having our means, methods and resources to save them . We have Bangladesh navy , airforce, army, coast guards , police, Bangladesh rifles – BDR, joint forces, ansars,village diffence forces, volunteers of red cross / red crescent societies,government offices, officials and employees, union parisad members and chairmen , teachers, students, youths, non-government organizations – NGOs, so on and so forth to take appropriate means for the evacuations of the victims. Unfortunately we failed in performing our responsibilities during their helplessness .
So, we must apologies to those who survived from the severity of tidal surge and cyclone to bear the brunt of the losses of lives of their near and dear ones including properties. We must admit the actual number of deaths including those who were missing. Proper list of those landless poor, fisher folk communities, marginalized professionals, indigenous people, minorities who were injured ,lost their earning members or parents , parents lost their earning members/sons or daughters and lost their dwellings etc have to be made for their emergency relief and rehabilitations, short /mid and long term support and development.
The elected members and chairmen of union parisads, govt.services extension personnel, teachers of primary and secondary schools and other institutions, lecturers and professors of colleges, volunteers of red cross societies , NGOs , leaders and workers of political parties, peasants and landless organizations and others of the cyclone battered areas could do the above assessment collectively, correctly and effectively in 2/3 days for proper implementation of emergency relief , rehabilitation and short and long term development for the victims of the cyclone Sidr inclusively. Survivors having no land and other means of livelihoods , landless daily labourers and workers, fisherfolk communities , marginalized peasants and professionals having no sons and daughters working in the urban areas to supplement the family incomes, widows, old persons, physically challenged, mentally retarded, children, indigenous people and minorities in the cyclone devastated areas should be given priority in all respects.
Union parisad head quarters in the affected areas should be made the centres for undertaking all emergency,short and long term activities aiming at mitigating the sorrows and sufferings of the Sidr affected people .Divisional, district and upazila head quarters are far away from the reach of the poor and powerless victims. Real victims or the majority of the affected people always remain excluded and outside the service and supports if supports centers are built in the urban areas.
Therefore, to include those majority who were already excluded, must be included under the service delivery coverage. So, we must reach out to the victims as we have all the means to reach them. All affected and deserving people should be included under emergency relief and rehabilitation and long term development interventions. All victims irrespective of their religious beliefs and political affiliation should be supported to cope with the aftermath of the Sidr.
The victims of fisher communities, the farmers and the marginalized professionals in the sidr affected areas should be supported with all means so that they could engage themselves in their respective professions as early as possible in order to cope with the aftermath of the sidr. The landless labourers and workers ,widows, old citizens , physically challenged should be covered with vulnerable group feeding - VGF, vulnerable group development- VGD, food for work and cash for work, widow and old citizens allowance programmes . Unbridled corruptions in executing these programmes during the reign of Khaleda- Nizami coalition misrule from 2001 – 2006 should be eradicated first in order to establish justice and fairness in extension and execution of these services for the cyclone victims in particular and the victims of hunger, poverty and deprivation of Bangladesh in general.
Special projects should be taken by the government, private sectors and NGOs collectively to provide job to at least one person per badly affected families which do not have any member ( son/daughter/ grand son/ grand daughter/father/ mother) working for non-agriculture sectors in the urban or peri- urban areas to supplement his/her family income. In fact, this project should be taken nationally to guarantee employment schemes for families very much vulnerable to unemployment, floods,cyclone,sidr,tsunami , drought , famine and monga in order to liberate them from the curse of hunger,poverty, disparities and discriminations.
In order to go for production of paddy, wheat, vegetables, potatoes, corns and other crops the victims of sidr and floods should be supported with draught animals for cultivation of their lands and to increase agricultural productions.
Therefore, the govt. should prohibit slaughtering of cows, bulls, goats, buffalos and other animals on the pretext of sacrifice them during the ensuing eid-ul azha. So it should open centers in all the big cities and towns of Bangladesh to collect those animals as donations for the victims of sidr and floods for distributions among the neediest victims to go for cultivating their lands as well as rearing them for increasing productions. Mentionable that the sidr washed away livestock and poultry population of the affected people and the flood victims of August and September 2007 were forced to sell out their livestock and poultry populations for their survival.
Under long-term development plan, multi purpose high rise cyclone shelters resistant to tsunami and earth quake have to be built in the remotest coastal areas of Bangladesh according to number of people living there and accommodation capacities of the shelters to be built. Site selection for such centers should be carefully done so that the cyclone shelters are not built on the so-called donated lands of the land grabbers, land owners and land lords. Present cyclone shelters though could accommodate only one-tenth of the coastal people were controlled , used and owned by the so-called land donors or the rural elites . Poor and powerless people do not have access to these shelters although goats and cattle's of the donors of land and elites find places in these shelters during cyclones, tidal waves and hurricanes, Sidr- tsunami etc. Assets , barrels of rice, sacks of paddy and fertilizers ,power tillers, power pumps, and other belongings of the rich and rural oligarchs, power elites and musclemen are stored in these shelters during calamities. Even during normal period the cyclone shelters and other public properties and educational institutions and mosques are used and controlled by the powerful of the rural and urban areas. To these people, life of the poor and marginalized are not valuable.
Therefore, existing cyclone shelters, although cannot accommodate one-tenth of the coastal population, must be freed from the control, abuses and occupation of the elites to facilitate access of the poor to these shelters during catastrophes.
Maintenance and monitoring committee comprising of people from different classes, beliefs and professions should be formed for proper utilization and look after of the existing cyclone shelters. More multi purpose cyclone shelters should be built in the inaccessible and hard to reach areas in the coastal areas at an emergency basis so that the life and property of the poor fishing communities, landless labourers and workers and marginalized are saved and protected. All government offices and houses for its employees at the union level including union parisads complex in the remote coastal areas shuld be 5 / 6 storied to turn these offices as shelters during sidr and tsunami. For the same purpose all educational institutions, mosques, temples, churches etc in the remote coastal areas should be built on permanent structures.
The traumatized people of the Sidr laden areas have all the rights to ventilate their grievances, pains and panics in case of deprivations , corruptions , nepotism misbehaviors centering relief distributions, rehabilitation supports, vulnerable group feeding – VGF and vulnerable group development – VGD cards,food or cash for works and other activities aiming at mitigating the sufferings of the victims. Examplary punishment should be given to the persons for corruptions, misbehavior, negligence and nepotism. No one should try to silence the voices of the aggrieved people. All must respect them.They were the ones who took part in large number during our glorious liberation war of 1971.
Unfortunately, they were not allowed to reap the fruits of independence by the past successive governments of this republic. The peasants and the workers fought valiantly to defeat the Pakistani occupation forces in Bangladesh in 1971 and the occupation Pakistani forces were defeated. But their victory was snatched away by the ruling elites and their collaborators who celebrate victory day every year shamelessly with mirth and merriment although the wheels of this Republic is being moved forward by them.
The poor and powerless people of Bangladesh have not seen their victory over poverty, hunger, dispossessions , discriminations and disparities. They are the creators, producers, protectors and suppliers of all means of our livelihoods. We live on their sweat and blood. The general masses- the victims of all human- induced and natural disasters like cyclone, tidal surge, flood, tsunami, sidr, hurricane, drought, erosions gave birth to this Republic after a long struggle beginning from 1947 and ended on the 16th of December,1971. The consequences of their struggles and sacrifices is today's Bangladesh.
As a result, we are now holding high positions of this Republic as presidents, speakers, prime ministers, ministers, members of parliament , judges, generals, secretaries, high commissioners , ambassadors, poverty lords, lords and leaders of NGOs, principals, professors and professionals, national- regional and international award holders and so on.
We owe much to them. Let us now repay and respect them. Otherwise, the Sidr and Tsunami of the hungry , dispossessed, discriminated and excluded millions will devastate and inundate us. There is no force on this planet to suppress and silence people's voice. Let us learn from history and act accordingly.—SAN-Feature Service
Muhammed Kamal Uddin is Coordinator and Chief Executive of ARBAN
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