Hello all,
This is an article by Dr. Badiul Alam Majumdar published in the daily star today.
Thanks, Roobon
Source: http://thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=14084 or http://votebd.org/shujan-somabesh/?p=144
Activate Union Parishad to effectively face the disaster
This is an article by Dr. Badiul Alam Majumdar published in the daily star today.
Thanks, Roobon
Source: http://thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=14084 or http://votebd.org/shujan-somabesh/?p=144
Activate Union Parishad to effectively face the disaster
I have just returned from the cyclone Sidr affected areas. Along with a group of volunteers, I went to Borguna, Patuakhali, Pirojpur and Jhalakathi with some emergency relief supplies and much heartfelt empathy. There, I saw the devastation, which turned some areas into killing fields and shattered the lives and livelihood of so many.
A week after that fateful night of November 15, the smell of death lingers in the air as some of the dead still remained unburied, the wails of orphaned children are ever present, and the cries of widowed women pierce the darkness of the night. There is so much pain there that one's mind goes numb, and it becomes impossible to hold back the tears.
The number of deaths and injuries cannot accurately portray the devastation. Properties, houses, plants and crops -- almost all the worldly possessions of the residents -- were destroyed. Food from their homes, fish from their freshwater ponds, cows, buffalos, goats, ducks and chicken were all wiped away by the tidal surge.
Fishermen lost their nets and boats. Where there was no high tide, the water, contaminated by fallen leaves and other debris, has become unusable and pond fish are dying. The environment of the affected areas is totally polluted. The victims are hungry and thirsty. Many are living under the open sky. They do not even have seeds to plant.
This scenario is common to almost all districts of the south. Conditions in the chars and near riverbanks are, however, most serious. Falishatoli village under Monsha Baliatoli union of Borguna Sadar is a case in point.
Almost no dwelling is standing there. Even the soil from the foundations has washed away. The top of the embankment protecting the village is gone; creating deep ditches every few meters. Twenty-two people from this location were reportedly lost, nine people being from a single homestead. A "war" appears to have been fought here, as very few things have remained standing.
Each story I heard in the Sidr affected areas was more horrifying than the one before. I heard of a 10-year old schoolboy whose dead body was washed into a house. His school backpack was still tightly strapped to his back. Clearly, he tried to flee from death carrying his most important possession!
I heard of a young man dying under a fallen wall while trying to rescue his blind, aging mother. Instead of swimming away to save her own life, a mother embraced death holding her child to her bosom.
In Falishatoli, I heard of a mason who came home from his workplace in Dhaka to find that all four of his family members were dead. He was last seen leaving the area wailing -- "who should I live for anymore?"
This is not the first time that a natural disaster has hit coastal Bangladesh. They have occurred many times before. The great tidal wave of 1970 killed over half a million people. The loss of life and property in the 1991 cyclone was also enormous.
In addition, there have been many relatively smaller calamities. Even though the destruction from these smaller calamities was less, their cumulative impact is serious and far-reaching.
Because of repeated disasters in the past, many people were already in an awful state before Sidr arrived. Malnutrition, especially among the poorest segment of the society like women and the disadvantaged, is nakedly visible here.
The women of these areas are short and very thin. The effects of women's malnutrition are clearly noticeable among the children. Because of malnutrition, their immune systems have not developed fully.
Given an outbreak of common diseases like diarrhea and pneumonia, they will, therefore, be the first victims. Even though malnutrition and lack of immunity are the real killers -- diarrhea and pneumonia are easily blamed for the deaths.
Clearly, the lives of the people of Sidr affected areas are once again shattered, but they are not defeated. In the past, these people, who lost their loved ones and much of their material possessions, have courageously fought back. They appear to be determined to do so again this time. Resiliency is a unique trait of the Bangladeshis, especially among the disaster prone people of this country.
Another distinguishing attribute of these people is that they have few worldly possessions and their demands are also very limited. Given rock-bottom minimums, they are satisfied. If they are able feed and clothe themselves and have roofs over their heads, they feel "grateful."
They do not need fancy cars or extravagant palaces. Still, our policymakers have repeatedly shown indifference toward these citizens in the past. Our leaders have even ignored their survival needs during disasters. Thus, we don't even have enough cyclone shelters for the coastal areas. Only 2000 such shelters with stated capacity to hold 20 lac exist, although the population of the coastal region is several times more.
What was most visible to me in the Sidr affected areas is the lack of coordination. Many individuals, organisations, and the government are distributing emergency relief. They are doing it based on their own instincts and cursory information. As a result, even a week after the disaster hit, help has not yet reached some remote areas where the communication system has broken down.
In some locations, especially close to the riverbanks, relief supplies have been distributed repeatedly. Consequently, the right kinds of supplies are not reaching the right places. This is unacceptable in a country like Bangladesh, which has vast disaster management experience. In any event, the government will have to take responsibility for the coordination, and we are pleased that it has taken the initiative under a honourable adviser.
A prerequisite for coordination is reliable information. The number of dead and injured, where they are, what types of damage occurred in which location, and what type of help is urgently needed in different areas -- such information needs to be collected for each village. For example, information about whose dwellings were demolished, which families are hungry, who lost how many bulls and buffalos, how many hand pumps are dysfunctional, which public institutions such as schools were destroyed, etc., needs to be collected.
With an appropriate format developed for this purpose, the local Union Parishad representatives could easily gather this information in a few days.
It would only require the initiative of the UNOs. The help of the armed forces would be needed for reaching the remote areas. District and upazila level officers, instead of performing protocol duties, could be assigned to specific unions to help with data collection and need assessments. We feel that such information and groundwork are still needed.
The information offices at the upazila could be turned into information centres, where which type of help is needed in which areas could be displayed. The information displayed at these centres could come from Union Parishads, journalists and social workers, and could be used by all concerned to direct assistance to appropriate places. The adviser's office, to be located in Barisal, could do the much-needed supervision and monitoring through the DCs and other functionaries.
Union parishads will have to play the most vital role in the process of coordination. UPs must also be used for distributing help. We do not understand why this important institution with rich traditions, which has withstood the test of time, is not used to tackle this dire emergency.
Also, if the elected UP representatives cannot effectively respond to this call of humanity with honesty and dedication, there is no justification in keeping this 135-year old institution. Unlike in the past, there are no parallel networks of "MP sarkar" to bypass them or make them ineffective.
Since human beings are not angels, in order to avoid "election politics" on the part of the UP representatives, distinguished local people and social workers must be tagged with them in this endeavour. NGOs must also work in coordination with UPs. Our experience of using this arrangement for distributing relief supplies has been quite positive and confidence inspiring.
Several priorities must be kept in mind in extending help to the Sidr victims. Emergency supplies of food, water, clothes, especially winter clothes, seeds, bullocks for cultivation etc., will have to be immediately arranged. Women, children, the old and the handicapped will have to be given priority. Damaged gardens and ponds need to be cleaned. Roads must be cleared and electricity connections restored.
People must be provided financial support to restart their livelihood efforts, which the government has already initiated. Books and supplies for students must be arranged and educational institutions renovated. We must not also forget the relatively better off families, who have lost everything and are hungry, but are uncomfortable about standing in line for relief.
In the middle term, the Wapda embankments must be repaired, and they must be elevated and made stronger. Otherwise, salt water will damage the crops during the high tides in the rainy season.
In the long-term, many more cyclone shelters will have to be constructed. Houses for the victims will have to be built based on scientific designs so that they are cyclone-safe. A green belt will have to be built throughout the coastal line, for the Sundarban had greatly protected some areas from the ferocity of the cyclone.
However, cautiousness must be exercised in planting trees. Cyclone Sidr damaged alien trees like Chambal, which are very soft. Many rain trees were also uprooted -- it is alleged that polyethylene bags from the bottom of the saplings were not removed, and sometimes roots were trimmed before they were planted.
While returning from the Sidr affected districts by launch, it occurred to me as I approached Sadarghat that I was returning from one devastated area to another. In contrast to the southern districts, the devastation in the capital city is in the values and norms of its residents.
This realisation becomes more acute seeing the continued competition among the rich to occupy the banks of the Buriganga River. It became increasingly clear to me that honesty, equity and fairness etc. -- the values based on which the liberation war was fought -- are no longer held by many who live in Dhaka city's concrete jungle.
It is clearly reflected in one single political family's alleged plundering of nearly Tk.16,000 crores, which is apparently equivalent to the total loss of the cyclone Sidr. Thus, all the palatial buildings of the capital city appeared to me to be nothing more than monuments of the devastated values of their owners. If we are really to move forward as a civilised nation, we must urgently do something about restoring these disappearing values.
Dr. Badiul Alam Majumdar is Global Vice-President and Country Director, The Hunger Project, Bangladesh, and Secretary, Shujan.
A week after that fateful night of November 15, the smell of death lingers in the air as some of the dead still remained unburied, the wails of orphaned children are ever present, and the cries of widowed women pierce the darkness of the night. There is so much pain there that one's mind goes numb, and it becomes impossible to hold back the tears.
The number of deaths and injuries cannot accurately portray the devastation. Properties, houses, plants and crops -- almost all the worldly possessions of the residents -- were destroyed. Food from their homes, fish from their freshwater ponds, cows, buffalos, goats, ducks and chicken were all wiped away by the tidal surge.
Fishermen lost their nets and boats. Where there was no high tide, the water, contaminated by fallen leaves and other debris, has become unusable and pond fish are dying. The environment of the affected areas is totally polluted. The victims are hungry and thirsty. Many are living under the open sky. They do not even have seeds to plant.
This scenario is common to almost all districts of the south. Conditions in the chars and near riverbanks are, however, most serious. Falishatoli village under Monsha Baliatoli union of Borguna Sadar is a case in point.
Almost no dwelling is standing there. Even the soil from the foundations has washed away. The top of the embankment protecting the village is gone; creating deep ditches every few meters. Twenty-two people from this location were reportedly lost, nine people being from a single homestead. A "war" appears to have been fought here, as very few things have remained standing.
Each story I heard in the Sidr affected areas was more horrifying than the one before. I heard of a 10-year old schoolboy whose dead body was washed into a house. His school backpack was still tightly strapped to his back. Clearly, he tried to flee from death carrying his most important possession!
I heard of a young man dying under a fallen wall while trying to rescue his blind, aging mother. Instead of swimming away to save her own life, a mother embraced death holding her child to her bosom.
In Falishatoli, I heard of a mason who came home from his workplace in Dhaka to find that all four of his family members were dead. He was last seen leaving the area wailing -- "who should I live for anymore?"
This is not the first time that a natural disaster has hit coastal Bangladesh. They have occurred many times before. The great tidal wave of 1970 killed over half a million people. The loss of life and property in the 1991 cyclone was also enormous.
In addition, there have been many relatively smaller calamities. Even though the destruction from these smaller calamities was less, their cumulative impact is serious and far-reaching.
Because of repeated disasters in the past, many people were already in an awful state before Sidr arrived. Malnutrition, especially among the poorest segment of the society like women and the disadvantaged, is nakedly visible here.
The women of these areas are short and very thin. The effects of women's malnutrition are clearly noticeable among the children. Because of malnutrition, their immune systems have not developed fully.
Given an outbreak of common diseases like diarrhea and pneumonia, they will, therefore, be the first victims. Even though malnutrition and lack of immunity are the real killers -- diarrhea and pneumonia are easily blamed for the deaths.
Clearly, the lives of the people of Sidr affected areas are once again shattered, but they are not defeated. In the past, these people, who lost their loved ones and much of their material possessions, have courageously fought back. They appear to be determined to do so again this time. Resiliency is a unique trait of the Bangladeshis, especially among the disaster prone people of this country.
Another distinguishing attribute of these people is that they have few worldly possessions and their demands are also very limited. Given rock-bottom minimums, they are satisfied. If they are able feed and clothe themselves and have roofs over their heads, they feel "grateful."
They do not need fancy cars or extravagant palaces. Still, our policymakers have repeatedly shown indifference toward these citizens in the past. Our leaders have even ignored their survival needs during disasters. Thus, we don't even have enough cyclone shelters for the coastal areas. Only 2000 such shelters with stated capacity to hold 20 lac exist, although the population of the coastal region is several times more.
What was most visible to me in the Sidr affected areas is the lack of coordination. Many individuals, organisations, and the government are distributing emergency relief. They are doing it based on their own instincts and cursory information. As a result, even a week after the disaster hit, help has not yet reached some remote areas where the communication system has broken down.
In some locations, especially close to the riverbanks, relief supplies have been distributed repeatedly. Consequently, the right kinds of supplies are not reaching the right places. This is unacceptable in a country like Bangladesh, which has vast disaster management experience. In any event, the government will have to take responsibility for the coordination, and we are pleased that it has taken the initiative under a honourable adviser.
A prerequisite for coordination is reliable information. The number of dead and injured, where they are, what types of damage occurred in which location, and what type of help is urgently needed in different areas -- such information needs to be collected for each village. For example, information about whose dwellings were demolished, which families are hungry, who lost how many bulls and buffalos, how many hand pumps are dysfunctional, which public institutions such as schools were destroyed, etc., needs to be collected.
With an appropriate format developed for this purpose, the local Union Parishad representatives could easily gather this information in a few days.
It would only require the initiative of the UNOs. The help of the armed forces would be needed for reaching the remote areas. District and upazila level officers, instead of performing protocol duties, could be assigned to specific unions to help with data collection and need assessments. We feel that such information and groundwork are still needed.
The information offices at the upazila could be turned into information centres, where which type of help is needed in which areas could be displayed. The information displayed at these centres could come from Union Parishads, journalists and social workers, and could be used by all concerned to direct assistance to appropriate places. The adviser's office, to be located in Barisal, could do the much-needed supervision and monitoring through the DCs and other functionaries.
Union parishads will have to play the most vital role in the process of coordination. UPs must also be used for distributing help. We do not understand why this important institution with rich traditions, which has withstood the test of time, is not used to tackle this dire emergency.
Also, if the elected UP representatives cannot effectively respond to this call of humanity with honesty and dedication, there is no justification in keeping this 135-year old institution. Unlike in the past, there are no parallel networks of "MP sarkar" to bypass them or make them ineffective.
Since human beings are not angels, in order to avoid "election politics" on the part of the UP representatives, distinguished local people and social workers must be tagged with them in this endeavour. NGOs must also work in coordination with UPs. Our experience of using this arrangement for distributing relief supplies has been quite positive and confidence inspiring.
Several priorities must be kept in mind in extending help to the Sidr victims. Emergency supplies of food, water, clothes, especially winter clothes, seeds, bullocks for cultivation etc., will have to be immediately arranged. Women, children, the old and the handicapped will have to be given priority. Damaged gardens and ponds need to be cleaned. Roads must be cleared and electricity connections restored.
People must be provided financial support to restart their livelihood efforts, which the government has already initiated. Books and supplies for students must be arranged and educational institutions renovated. We must not also forget the relatively better off families, who have lost everything and are hungry, but are uncomfortable about standing in line for relief.
In the middle term, the Wapda embankments must be repaired, and they must be elevated and made stronger. Otherwise, salt water will damage the crops during the high tides in the rainy season.
In the long-term, many more cyclone shelters will have to be constructed. Houses for the victims will have to be built based on scientific designs so that they are cyclone-safe. A green belt will have to be built throughout the coastal line, for the Sundarban had greatly protected some areas from the ferocity of the cyclone.
However, cautiousness must be exercised in planting trees. Cyclone Sidr damaged alien trees like Chambal, which are very soft. Many rain trees were also uprooted -- it is alleged that polyethylene bags from the bottom of the saplings were not removed, and sometimes roots were trimmed before they were planted.
While returning from the Sidr affected districts by launch, it occurred to me as I approached Sadarghat that I was returning from one devastated area to another. In contrast to the southern districts, the devastation in the capital city is in the values and norms of its residents.
This realisation becomes more acute seeing the continued competition among the rich to occupy the banks of the Buriganga River. It became increasingly clear to me that honesty, equity and fairness etc. -- the values based on which the liberation war was fought -- are no longer held by many who live in Dhaka city's concrete jungle.
It is clearly reflected in one single political family's alleged plundering of nearly Tk.16,000 crores, which is apparently equivalent to the total loss of the cyclone Sidr. Thus, all the palatial buildings of the capital city appeared to me to be nothing more than monuments of the devastated values of their owners. If we are really to move forward as a civilised nation, we must urgently do something about restoring these disappearing values.
Dr. Badiul Alam Majumdar is Global Vice-President and Country Director, The Hunger Project, Bangladesh, and Secretary, Shujan.
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