Cyclone Aila Aftermath: The Quest For Water, Food and Shelter

In May, a cyclone hit eastern India and Bangladesh, killing hundreds of people. BRAC USA, a non-profit community development organization, has been conducting relief operations in wake of Cyclone Aila, distributing pure drinking water, water purifying tablets, food and sundry items in the region.

Susan Davis, CEO and President of BRAC USA, visited the Bangladeshi regions hit by Cyclone Aila and recounts her experiences for Tonic.

I visited a new local government office building called Union Parishad in Shahosh (an area in Dumuria Upazilla in the Khulna District) and was confronted with the harrowing sight of almost 300 people from Lotabunia and Bashkhali villages attempting to take shelter. These people had reached the shelter by swimming to safety on an embankment and then by using boats and other transportation to travel seven or eight kilometers from their submerged homes.

A woman I spoke to, Paruba, recalled her experiences of the flooding to me. She said, "The water was rising so fast. I saw snakes in the water and knew we must leave. When it reached waist level, we swam to the embankment where the Union Parishad Chairman had transport waiting to help us."

Another woman, Saraswati, nodded in agreement as she too had suffered a similar plight. Saraswati showed me the rice rations and the water that BRAC staff had provided to her, and pointed out the place where she was sleeping. With tears in her eyes and a trembling voice, she also pointed to the sari she wore, explaining to me that it had been donated to her by nearby villagers. She said, "Now, this is all I have left. I just want to get back to work. To have a place I can stand."

During my visit to the Union Parishad, so many people approached me, seeking to share their painful stories with someone. Through their tears, I could feel the intensity of their loss.

My trip to the Sunderbans the next day, was really much worse and so very intense. The Sunderbans is an area of mangrove forests and home to one of the world's largest tiger populations. Due to the significant damage done to the Sundarbans by Cyclone Aila, we were compelled to drive down to the edge of the Sundarbans where the area was flooded. We then traveled by boat to a remote part which had effectively been reduced to an island as a result of the flooding caused by Cyclone Aila.

Once there, we spoke with the survivors on the island, asking them about their experiences and the availability of food and water. The children stood around us, listening intently. When I asked them what they had eaten that day, I was aghast at the lack of food and water available. Despite the fact that it was past 4:00 in the afternoon, most people had eaten little or no food, and I felt desperately anguished that I had nothing to give. Some had eaten meager meals of rice and sugar; one had only eaten a banana that day, and two people had eaten nothing. That evening, BRAC staff distributed five kilograms of rice, potatoes, lentils, oil and water to several hundred families. I hoped and prayed that the parents of the little children standing around us, listening so intently, would have received food so that there would be a meal for them, at least that evening.

In addition, the unrelenting, intense heat aggravated the water shortage: Temperatures that week had reached highs of above 80 degrees. The heat was so intense that beads of sweat just rolled down our faces. One man, doing food-for-work to repair the broken embankment, said, "Sweet water is so scarce. I swear if you had some, you'd be mobbed for it right now." The raging floodwaters which has submerged the wells across the country has made the water undrinkable. However, some people became so desperately thirsty that they resorted to drinking the floodwater and as a result are suffering from diarrhea and dysentery.

People are trying to do any work they can to earn money for food and water. We saw men and women in the water, dragging fishing nets, trying to catch fish and tiny shrimp to sell.

Having experienced Hurricane Katrina, Rita and Ike, I feel these people's pain so acutely. Somehow they are finding the strength to keep going. But they need to tell us their story. They stop us. They want someone to know. And perhaps care.

Bangladesh map courtesy of Wikipedia.