Gear up relief operations
Flood has again hit Bangladesh hard. Scarcity of food, drinking water and medicine has become a serious problem for the marooned people. The devastation in terms of damage to lives, crops, livestock and infrastructure in the country, year after year, because of this natural calamity has become a major concern for the suffering people. Till now, 44 of the 64 districts have been badly affected with about 20 million people going through extreme hardship due to the loss of dwelling houses and crops. Sadly, as one official figure reveals, the fury of the flood has claimed 226 lives as of 10/8/07. The suffering of the 20 million people having no food, no shelter, no drinking water and last of all no medicine is tragic. The sudden cataclysm that has overwhelmed one-third of the country is no doubt alarming. But the disaster that is unfolding in the wake of the flood triggers further consequences. Water is already contaminated and would remain so for months to come. Water-borne and cold-related diseases have already broken-out in the flood-affected areas. Every day, hundreds of children along with adults are being admitted to the hospital. People will start dying unless relief aids in the form of food and medicines can be sent in time. On the other hand, cattle population might perish in the huge mass of water if water logging continues indefinitely. The World Food Programme (WFP) urged the donors and international community to continue to be generous in helping the flood-affected people of Bangladesh. “We are concerned about the affected people living at the flood shelters and under open sky,” urged Douglas Broderick, WFP representative in Bangladesh. Everybody must extend a helping hand to the people in distress.
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