2 lakh Sidr victims still without shelter in Patuakhali, Barguna
Govt relief too inadequate for need, officials admit
Victim of the November 15 Sidr, this family like many in Char Kauwa still lives in a makeshift hut in Patuakhali coastal areas.Photo: STAR
Over two lakh Sidr-affected families are still without shelter in Patuakhali and Barguna districts. Over six lakh people including children of these families are suffering in biting cold as they cannot erect sheds with the meagre government house building relief. The government has allotted only one bundle of CI sheet and Tk 3,000 to 5,000 for each family. Only 2,200 bundles of CI sheets were distributed and Tk Tk 24.27 crore disbursed among cyclone victims in Patuakhali district till December 30 while the deserving families are over two lakh. In Barguna, about 2,000 bundles of CI sheet and over Tk 20 crore were distributed among Sidr victims till January 1, a sources at district relief and rehabilitation office (DRRO) said. Sobahan Gazi, 45, of Panpattee village in Galachipa upazila said, told, “My tin-shed house was blown away. "I need at least 5 bundles of CI sheet and Tk 20,000 to rebuild my house anyhow. The upazila administration in presence of army gave me only Tk 5,000 and one bundle of CI sheet”.' Sobahan, Jabbar, Khalil and many others like them said the winter came as a woe after Sidr. Many affected families are passing nights under sheds covered with polythene, they said. Anwara Begum, 60, of Char Kauwa, about 10 kilometres from Kuakata sea beach, told this correspondent, “I am living under the open sky as Sidr blew away my thatched house. I need help to rebuild it”. Jalil Howlader of the same area said, “All the 300 families in the char (shoal) lost their dwellings and none of them got any assistance to rebuild houses.” Talking to this correspondent, Patuakhali District Relief and Rehabilitation Officer (DRRO) Abdul Malq admitted that the relief was too inadequate to the need. “The relief we are giving is not sufficient to their needs. They need at least four times more to rebuild houses", he said. A small percentage of people, specially middle class peasant families, rebuilt their houses anyhow as they could not seek relief because of their social status, official said.
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