Flood shelters face acute crisis of food and water

After his house was submerged under water from the floods, Nurul Absar took shelter at Baghdad Convention Centre in Bogdadia area of Feni Sadar upazila. His house is almost two kilometres away from the shelter. Six more of his family members are also staying in that shelter with him.

On Friday afternoon Nurul Absar told Prothom Alo that their house was immersed under water three days ago. He and his family somehow managed to reach the centre that night and took shelter there. He’s sharing the same room with many other flood affected people. And, he has not had any food for the last two days. Everyone’s in the same state.

Losing his house to the flood, Golap Mia, 50, also took refuge in that temporary shelter. His house is located in west Sanua. He has his wife and two sons with him. Golap Mia said that there’s no sign of the water receding. As the days are passing by, the sufferings are also increasing. There’s no food or water there.

The Baghdad Convention Centre is three storied. The ground floor has gone under water while several hundred people have been living in eight rooms on the two other floors for three days.

According to district administration sources, Chhagalnaiya, Fulgazi, Parshuram, Feni Sadar, Daganbhuiyan and Sonagazi- these six upazilas were completely flooded even on Friday.

Meanwhile, newer areas have been inundated in Feni Sadar and Sonagazi upazilas. About 350,000 (3.5 lakh) people are suffering. Besides, at least 100,000 (1 lakh) people are left waterlogged. There’s no electricity or mobile phone networks in the flood-affected areas.

Moreover, several hundred thousand people have taken shelter in local schools, colleges, mosques and madrasas. Although various voluntary organisations are distributing dry foods, the crisis of food and water has taken a critical turn.

Secretary of the disaster management and relief ministry, Md Kamrul Hasan stated during a press conference that one person has been killed from the floods in Feni.

The most severe flood in the history of Feni has been caused basically because of the onrush of upstream water from the hills in India and incessant heavy rainfall. People are trying to survive by fighting against the floodwater there for the last five days.

The Bogdadia High School building which doubles as a flood shelter is located in Bogdadia area under ward no. 5 of no.10 Sanua union of Feni Sadar upazila. There are more than 50 rooms in the couple of four-storied buildings of the shelter.

Some of those rooms are accommodating 50 people while some others are accommodating up to 60 people. Some people have taken shelter on the veranda as well. There are no less than 1,500 people living there.

This correspondent reached that shelter around 3:00 pm on Friday after travelling for one and a half hours by wading through the water for some distance and in a boat for some distance. While he was on his way, the whole village seemed to have turned into a giant river with endless flow of water.

Later upon arriving at the shelter, the ground floor was found submerged underwater.  Whenever a boat was passing by, the villagers were coming out of the rooms to the veranda expecting to find relief materials.

Residents of different villages are spending houres in miserable conditions huddling up together with their belongings and cattle including cows, goats, chicken and ducks.

People were sitting or standing in those rooms almost at each other’s breath’s end. The surroundings are shabby. They are forced to use floodwater even in the washrooms. Plus, there’s the crisis of drinking water as well.

Khadija Begum, a woman nearly 50 years old, with five other members of her family took shelter there on Wednesday. The woman said they had a seven-room mud house.

There was knee-high water in their house on Wednesday but on Thursday morning, it was completely submerged underwater. When the water level was rising, their 50-year-old house collapsed little by little right in front of their eyes.

Khadija Begum has two sons. Her elder son Nur Salam, 30, works as an electrician. Adding to her mother’s account he said, “There’s no way of building another house. We couldn’t bring any of our belongings out of the house. We just left with a few of our clothes.”

Reflecting on the uncertainty of the situation Nur said that the money he makes is barely enough to run the household. And now they have to start afresh from the scratch. They would have to shift in a rented house.

This correspondent talked to another woman named Sabina Akhter. After learning that he’s a journalist, Sabina threw her queries like ‘how long they have to stay there and how long will it take for the water to recede? Sabina said they were in incredible trouble. Everything has been disrupted by the sudden flood.

Several hundred people have taken refuge in Khaiyara government primary school as well. They are spending their days and nights huddled up in tiny rooms.

A woman named Kalpana Rani Das said that some people have left them dry foods like puffed rice, flattened rice and biscuits. She said they are worried thinking how long they have to live like that.

A team of volunteers that came from Chattogram city has been running rescue operations in different villages of Feni Sadar upazila. They have rescued 70 people and carried them to safety in two of their boats.

A member of that team, Even Meer told Prothom Alo village after village are immersed underwater. People stuck on the roof of different buildings are being rescued and many people are being provided with food.

Another group of volunteers from Sitakunda of Chattogram ran rescue operations in Farhadnagar, Motbi and Dharmapr unions of Feni Sadar upazila. A volunteer with the group, Nazmul Islam said they have helped at least 200 people reach the shelters and the highway in five of their engine-run boats.

However, many people were still left waterlogged in the vast flood-affected area till Friday night. Seven members of a family were stuck in North Tongirpar Hazi Bari Mosque area under no. 10 Sanua union of the Sadar upazila.

Another member of the family named Farzana Akhter told Prothom Alo that the area has been completely immersed underwater. Seven of her family members including children are left stranded there. She has not found any trace of them since Thursday evening.

Farzana Akter last contacted her sister-in-law Tania Akhter around 7:00 pm on Thursday. Tania informed her that several hundred people from their locality took shelter in a local mosque.

The floodwater submerged the ground floor of the building and was about to reach the first floor. Nobody could go out as the roads were already under water. After that, she lost contact with her family.

The Dhaka-Chattogram highway has been idle since Wednesday. No vehicles are able to move on the road from Mirsarai of Chattogram to Feni Sadar.

Only the relief carrying vehicles are moving sluggishly on that road. Different parts of the highway were submerged underwater on Friday. Some vehicles were stuck for 24 houres while some remained still for 30 hours straight.

A woman named Nargis Akhter was travelling to Sylhet with her child. Their bus came to a standstill right before entering Feni Sadar upazila on Thursday.

Since then they have been waiting inside the bus till Friday afternoon. They were able to buy some cakes and biscuits twice in between. There were 50 passengers in that bus including seven children.

Meanwhile, a truck driver named Mohammad Saiful was travelling to Dhaka. He started from Chattogram two days ago and got stuck after arriving in Mirsarai.  

A visit to the area saw a number of people were walking towards their destinations as hundreds of vehicles were left stranded on the road like that. Some walked for five or six hours while some have walked for 12 hours straight.  

The house of a couple named Arup Das and Noyna Das is located in Sonagazi of Feni. As their house has been inundated in the flood they were travelling home from Chattogram. They arrived at Bariyarhat area in a bus around 9:00 am on Friday.

After waking for two hours from there, they climbed into a CNG-run auto rickshaw. After getting down from the auto rickshaw, they started off on foot again. This correspondent talked the couple in Lemua Rastar Matha area when the two of them in a tired voice said that they must go home at any cost.