Post Breakfast
The disastrous flood
Nearly four weeks have passed since various factors induced the current serious flooding within Bangladesh. Huge swathes of our territory, as well as that of neighbouring India have been subjected to inundation, flood-related damage and loss of lives. This time round, the process has peaked once towards the end of the second week of August, receded slightly and then again gained strength because of renewed heavy rainfall in Nepal. It has not only devastated standing crops but also existing infrastructure related to communications, education, healthcare and the rural economy.
Bangladesh and its citizens are used to floods and to coping with such natural disasters. We have over time also realised that the level of our vulnerability increases in the post-monsoon period when seasonal reversals of wind direction caused by temperature differences between the land and the sea can dump enormous quantities of water from the sky.
We have with resilience and patience also proved that we are able to regenerate after the country has been subjected to severe flooding (as happened in 1988 and in 1998).
This time as well, all concerned are trying their best to salvage a situation that has been triggered by heavy monsoon rainfall not only in Nepal (worst in the last 40 years) but also in the upper reaches of the foothills of the Himalayas both in the northwestern (Himachal Pradesh and the United Provinces in India) and northeastern flanks of Bangladesh (bordering Bhutan and Assam in India). It has caused hardship and affected over 15 million people in Bangladesh alone. The death toll has reached nearly 600. Rural housing has been particularly damaged and meagre savings in terms of livestock and poultry washed away by the swirling waters. Crops worth nearly Taka 2,000 crore have also been lost.
It has been interesting watching the government gradually evolve its position with regard to the disaster. In the beginning there was hesitation in declaring the flood as a national disaster. Relief efforts and temporary rehabilitation was undertaken, but at every turn, it was stressed that the interim Administration was not willing to 'politicise the flood' and use it to seek necessary foreign assistance. It was also stressed that people could support the providing of relief without identifying such efforts under political banners. Such an approach, for obvious reasons, caused debate. Some pointed out at that time that the government was being naive.
Well, a few weeks later, the government has finally acknowledged that the matter is more serious than what was anticipated. They have now decided to ask the donor community for US dollar 150 million in budgetary support and flood aid. Ostensibly, such a sum will be critical for meeting the post-flood situation.
The floodwaters might be receding slowly, but as explained by Bahatun, a flood-hit old woman from Hazaribagh, hunger is on the rise. This is something that is clearly staring us in the face. To this has been added the acute shortage of pure drinking water. This in turn has led to severe presence of water-borne diseases. Critical need has surfaced for shelter, food and medical help including IV saline. Electronic media have informed that, on an average, more than 35 diarrhea patients are crowding into Dhaka hospitals every hour. I can only imagine the seriousness given the fact that 47 districts out of 64 have faced varying degrees of inundation. Hundreds of thousands of internally displaced persons have also sought temporary shelter in relatively urban areas.
One of the biggest casualties has been education, with almost all the educational institutions turned into relief camps and schooling being suspended for nearly one month. Repair of damaged infrastructure will take quite some time. Meanwhile, for all practical purposes, students at large in the flood-affected areas will be falling behind others in the non-flooded zones.
This time round, misunderstandings and communication gaps between the relevant government authorities and civil society and political parties have led to the latter taking a back seat and playing a less than enthusiastic role. The government must not allow this situation to continue. It has to visibly demonstrate the inclusiveness of other stakeholders. One way out might be to ask civil society representatives to be part of government post flood rehabilitation teams. It should not be overlooked that NGOs, because of the nature of their functions always maintain a strong database and links to local community leaderships. Political party networks should also be encouraged to participate in relief operations along with the armed forces (who traditionally have better logistical support). The government needs to make it clear that emergency is no bar to participation in relief operations, even by political activists at the grassroots level.
We have many challenges ahead of us. I am however confident that we will be able to overcome them through discussion and inter-active practical engagement. We need to restore normalcy in governance as soon as possible and practicable. We have a fixed time frame with regard to the electoral agenda. Effective addressing of this will require functional and meaningful resolution of the post-flood travails. It is one thing to say that correction of electoral rolls and preparation of ID cards will continue without interruption. That will however be difficult if the post-flood short-term and immediate rehabilitation is not completed by end of October at the latest (despite the many holidays associated with Ramzan and Eid-ul-Fitr).
I am expressing this anxiety because government officials have to be free at the lowest administrative levels to carry out their expected functions pertaining to the preparatory steps associated with the holding of a fair and credible parliamentary election.
This will be the only way forward in our ongoing effort towards eventual poverty reduction within our development agenda paradigm. This will have to include direct intervention by the government in providing credit extension support to the flood affected farmers and micro entrepreneurs whose crops, livestock and seedbeds have been destroyed either by water or sand brought in by flood waters. In this context, an efficient food grain distribution system will have to be set up as a supporting mechanism till the next harvest comes home. Without this measure, we will have a huge movement of population to urban areas from affected rural hinterland. The damaged transportation networks, both roads and railways, will also have to be repaired.
Natural calamities always have a bright side. They provide the general population with opportunities for unity. We should try to find least common denominators irrespective of professional background and political persuasion and join hands to mitigate the sufferings of the distressed. It would also be pertinent for the business community to shoulder part of this responsibility by trying to contain profiteering and hoarding that has been the bane of our consumers in the recent past.
We as a people have courage and fortitude and must again demonstrate to the wider international community that Bangladesh can face natural disasters and quickly return to business as usual. We can show once again that natural hazards are a way of life, but we, with careful disaster management of meager resources, can rise above a disastrous situation without falling prey to mutual recrimination and corruption in matters of rehabilitation.
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