Crucial phase in the flood

The current flood outlook has three immediate ramifications. First, it has held out a threat to the dams. For instance, the Dhaka-Narayanganj-Demra Dam came under pressure but with the opening of the sluice gates it has eased off. We note that the army engineers and high officials of the Water Development Board (WDB) visited the DND Dam and declared it safe. All major dams and embankments in the country should be likewise monitored by Army-WDB joint teams with repairs done to any breaches on an emergency footing.

Millions of people would be marooned if the embankments gave in. Already, river erosion has sent many rural households into destitution.

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Secondly, the flooded areas are faced with an acute shortage of water. With the tubewells going under water and the other sources having been polluted, the flood victims remain extremely vulnerable to water-borne diseases.

Again, when water starts to recede, the portents of a cholera epidemic will stare us in the face. There should not be any shortage in the supply of water purification tablets, ORS sachets, vaccines et all to the flood-affected areas. The medical teams should have already reached out.

Last but not the least, we have worrisome news from Kurigram: people rendered jobless and homeless by the flood are taking loans at a very high rate of interest to feed their families. They might also go for distress sales. We will have to checkmate this new spin to the rural pauperisation process. Relief goods will have to go to the needy, not the fakes who sell these off to the market. Speaking of the market, there is another big problem facing the consumers, both rural and urban, which is the rising price-line owing to the snapping of the communication links topped off by hoarding and speculative trading practices. The potential day-to-day economic backlash of the flood will have to be headed off.