The homeless survivors, still recovering from the trauma of nature's fury, are doubly worried with the approach of winter as the government as well as foreign and local donors seem to be pulling out without fulfilling their rehabilitation pledges.
Officials of the finance and food and disaster management ministries told New Age Thursday that the response of the international community to the government's appeal for Sidr assistance fell far short of requirement.
The government appealed for $2.2 billion in international aid for rehabilitation in the cyclone-hit areas but received only $500 million from various donors.
Oxfam, a British non-governmental organisation, said that only about one quarter of the proposed 78,000 new homes for the badly affected families have been built. It also said more than one million people remained without proper shelter and were at greater risk of diseases than before cyclone Sidr struck on November 15, 2007.
Officials of the two ministries, however, said that the government had not yet compiled the details of the funds used in the rehabilitation of people left homeless by Sidr.'We [ministry of food and disaster management] have written to different ministries on November 11 to let us know about the foreign and government funds utilised by them in Sidr assistance', said an official of the ministry.
Replying to a question, the official admitted that there was a lack of coordination among various ministries as well as agencies about the Sidr rehabilitation work.According to an official, 47 countries and donor agencies had pledged $ 635 million and provided $ 69 million so far.
The Japanese government promised to build 10,000 houses but is yet to build any. The Indian government has backed away from their promise to build 2,685 houses in the Sidr-affected areas.A Japanese proposal for building 10,000 houses and Indian proposal for rebuilding 10 battered villages still remain elusive.
Even Saudi Arabia has not completed funding of its pledged $ 100 million for rebuilding 22,800 homes.A disaster ministry official said that immediately after the Sidr, Saudi King Abdullah had pledged $ 100 million for providing food and housing for the cyclone-hit people.
'So far they [Saudi government] have provided materials for construction of 15,000 houses in two separate lots in four severely affected districts', the official added.About an individual's donation of $ 130 million through the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), the official said that $ 20 million had been allocated for a cyclone centre and a housing project but the project was yet to be implemented.
Indian external affairs minister Pranab Mukherji's offer of rebuilding a Sidr-affected village still remains tangled up in the Indian high commission in Dhaka and food and disaster ministry as the offer was revised several times for various reasons.
Officials of the foreign ministry said that according to Indian desire the food and disaster management ministry had provided a list of 10 villages of Morelganj and Sarankhola upazila under Bagerhat district for construction of 1,600 houses.
'India said that their earlier allocation was not sufficient for rebuilding an ideal village and that they needed to write to New Delhi for more fund. Finally New Delhi has approved Rs 34,30,00,000 for the project', said an official of the ministry.
The official said that Indian consultant M/S CES Ltd was working on the project but Bangladesh was yet to be informed about the deadline for its commissioning..The cyclone Sidr that hit the country's south-western part on November 15, 2007, caused deaths of over 4,000 people and left a trail of destruction in the area.
The damage caused by the cyclone to homesteads was estimated at Tk 58 billion that represented over half of the total damage. In 30 districts as many as 5,65,000 dwellings were razed to the ground while 9,00,000 houses were damaged partially. In the 12 severely affected districts over 5,40,000 houses were completely damaged while another 8,10,000 sustained partial destruction, according to a report prepared by the donors on damage, loss and needs assessment for recovery and reconstruction after cyclone Sidr.
A shelter assessment made by Shelter Cluster and reported by the disaster management bureau estimated that as many as 34 per cent of the households with fully destroyed dwellings and 17 per cent with partially destroyed houses might need external assistance for rebuilding.
