Editorial
Rehabilitating Sidr victims
Accelerate pace, contain corruption
PEOPLE in the coastal districts, battered by Cyclone Sidr in November 2007, are still having to grapple with miseries as the rehabilitation programmes undertaken by different agencies are yet to be fully implemented.
The projects financed by overseas donors, with assurance of technical assistance, under which cyclone homes for the people in the most vulnerable areas were to be built have not made the desirable degree of progress. It seems the projects are either stuck at the planning and sanctioning stages or have hit implementation related snags .
It is perhaps the magnitude of the disaster, and the human sufferings caused by it, that prompted the people concerned to commemorate the day through organising a discussion meeting. Obviously, the memories of the terrible cyclone were revived and many loopholes in our cyclone preparedness and rehabilitation approaches were identified. It won't be any exaggeration to say that people in the coastal areas might find themselves in the same difficult situation, should another cyclone strike. This may sound overly pessimistic, but we cannot be oblivious of the fact that global climate change is making us more and more vulnerable to frequent natural disasters. We must brace for even worse calamities in the days ahead.
No less disturbing is the report from a Sidr affected area that the victims had to bribe UP members to get their share of construction materials. Nothing can better exemplify thriving on human miseries than such exploitation of the poor cyclone victims. It is really unfortunate that the men in charge of helping the victims have actually found an opportunity to make money out of the rehabilitation programmes. Even government officials have been accused of supporting the corrupt elements -- an allegation that should be gone into.
Post-cyclone rehabilitation programmes, however, cannot be viewed in isolation from overall disaster preparedness. Sidr casualties could have been reduced or even avoided, had people responded in time to the call for moving to the nearest cyclone shelters. The reluctance to take such matters seriously enough proved to be suicidal. Creating due awareness about the dangers associated with a cyclone is still a goal unaccomplished. The disaster managers have to perform better in this particular area.
Finally, it is time to evaluate how much of the commitment to rehabilitating the victims has been fulfilled and where things have gone wrong. Nothing will be more unfortunate than the poor people remaining as exposed to cyclones as in the past, despite availability of funds and technical assistance. And how far have the government and the NGOs gone in extending help to the people in distress?
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