Woes prolong for damaged dam

Saline water rushes into villages of Gabura Union in Shyamnagar upazila in Satkhira yesterday through a breach in the embankment during high tide. Inset, people of Kurikaunia of Pratapnagar in Assasuni upazila themselves mend an embankment damaged by Aila to protect their homes in high tide.Photo: Anisur RahmanWasim Bin Habib and Abu Ahmed, from Satkhira

Survivors of Cyclone Aila in Shyamnagar upazila, one of the worst-hit areas in Satkhira, have no choice but to fight for survival.

Some scared that the damaged embankment can give away at any point are already leaving the area in search of safer shelter.

Others are working round the clock to safeguard whatever little left spared by the cyclone and water.

A group of 30-35 men were busy yesterday trying to repair the destroyed embankment in Khalishabunia village under Gabura union parishad.

They pleaded with The Daily Star correspondents for help to repair the embankment.

“If the embankment is not repaired, our last belongings will be washed way, our children will die. Please do something,” pleaded a tearful Abdul Alim.

"Where can we go, there is no place remaining,” he cried.

Maksudul Sheikh, another villager is still in search of shelter.

“Repairing the embankment is very urgent, at least we can live on it then,” he said.

The embankment, though broken at many points, is already swarming with people who have sought shelter here. Some families are forced to take shelter in separate places because of the lack of space to be together.

“Everything has been washed away, our clothes, cooking pots -- everything,” said the visibly helpless Maksudul.

Not a single house in the 20 villages under Gabura union -- which once housed 37,000 people -- has been spared. The embankment has been damaged at 31 points by the tidal surge. Most of the trees were uprooted and washed away.

Many inhabitants of Padmapukur, Burigowalini, Munshiganj, Atulia and Ramzannagar unions under Shyamnagar upazila and some unions of Asshashuni have started leaving the area in fear of being inundated by rising water levels.

At least six unions in the upazila were badly affected. The situation in Asshashuni is no better.

In Dumuria, Chalkbara, Shora-9, Shora-10 and other villages under Gabura upazila, the wrecked embankment is the only safe place for shelter.

Almost all the inhabitants have set up makeshift shacks on it. They are still reeling from the shock of the devastation. Many are sleeping under the open sky. Though they have received food in aid, there is an acute shortage of safe drinking water and sanitation facilities.

Octogenarian Daud Ali Gazi came to Dumuria from Shora-9, losing everything he had built over generations.

Anowara Begum, a resident of Dumuria village in Gaburia union, summed it up saying, “No house, no water, this is a living hell.”

She walks all the way to Shora-9 village to collect drinking water from a pond there that has not been contained yet.

“We can't even find a place or facility to cook food, how can we boil water?” she asked.

Meanwhile, diarrhoea and other water-borne diseases are spreading fast among the survivors.

Sheikh Abdul Aziz said almost all the houses in his village Shora-9 were washed away. The few remaining are submerged in waist-deep water.

In the meantime, hundreds of affected people have started moving elsewhere fearing another tidal surge and heavy rainfall. People fear that the temporarily repaired portions of the embankments will not hold for long.

With his family of 24 members, Sheikh Wajed Ali, 71, moved from Shora-10 village to his cousin's in Parulia.

He said, “What should we do? We have no shelter, food and water here. Besides, the villages can go under water any moment.”

Cracks were found at many points of the embankment at Protapnagar union in Asshashuni upazila on Friday. The inhabitants of Gaburia union said they are repairing small breaches, as it is not possible to handle the large cracks in the embankment.

Salauddin Bappi, a local social worker, said the repairs on the embankments should be done under experts' supervision.

Lutfur Rahman, executive engineer of Division-1 of Water Development Board (WDB), told The Daily Star that approximately 26.6-kilometre stretch of the embankment covering eight unions in Shyamnagar upazila was totally destroyed and a 134-km stretch was partially damaged.

“We have estimated over Tk 90 crore for repairing the damage, damage prevention and sluice gate. We have asked for a sanction of Tk 13 crore on emergency basis,” he added.

Executive Engineer of WDB Division-2 Mujibur Rahman Hawlader said around 3.5 km of the embankment in Asshashuni upazila was washed away and 98 km was partially damaged, of which a 21-km stretch is in dire straits.

The embankment may give away any moment, he added.

He said they have estimated a cost of Tk 26.74 lakh to rebuild the damaged embankment.

“We have also asked the government to sanction Tk 5.5 crore on an emergency basis to repair the damages in Asshashuni upazila.”

The Health Minister AFM Ruhul Haque has meanwhile said, “We will repair the damaged parts of embankments at any cost.”

He also said he had asked the Satkhira Deputy Commissioner to form a committee and take necessary measures for reconstructing the breached embankments by June.

Meanwhile, the health minister, Army Chief Gen Moeen U Ahmed, State Minister for Labour Monnujan Sufian and Khulna City Mayor Talukder Abdul Khaleque visited different Aila-hit villages in Shyamnagar.