Still homeless

Many residents of Char Shiberkuti village in Kulaghat union under Sadar upazila of the district are not able to return home as they do not have the means to rebuild their homesteads that were washed away by floodwater of the Dharla river.

Salma Begum, 35, along with her husband and three children is still living in a temporary one-chala house on a road. They cannot return home as their two tin-shed houses, a one-chala cowshed and a straw-made kitchen were washed away by floodwater from the Dharla river on August 12.

Like Salma, Halima Bewa, Salekha Bewa, Felani Begum, Jobeda Begum and many others of the village are still homeless as they have not been able to return to their homesteads. Their houses were washed away and homesteads were turned into lowlands by floodwaters, and they do not have the money to build new houses after earth filling on their homesteads.

Salma said, “I got 16 pieces of corrugated iron (CI) sheets and Tk 6,000 from the government, but that is insufficient for building a house,” she said. “We had a cow and two goats, but we sold them after the flood for meeting the family needs,” said Salma's husband Golzar Hossain.

“I had a tin-shed house and a straw-made kitchen, but those were washed away by floodwater and my homestead on three decimals of land was turned into lowland,” said Halima Bewa, 62, of the village. “I got 16 pieces CI sheets and Tk 6,000 from the government, but it isn't sufficient to build a house,” she said, adding that she is now living in a temporary one-chala house on another person's land.

Sukur Ali, 48, son of Sonar Uddin of the village, said he and his six-member family are living in a temporary one-chala house on a dam of Water Development Board since August 14 as his house was devoured by floodwater. “I did not get CI sheets and I cannot pay for our rehabilitation,” he said. “I do not know when we will go back to our homestead,” he added.

Kulaghat Union Parishad (UP) Chairman Idris Ali said 200 families of his union became homeless due to flood, but only 35 families got CI sheets and money for rehabilitation. “Many flood-affected homeless people are still living on roads and others' lands as they cannot afford to build a house,” he added.

Mogholhat UP Chairman Habibur Rahman said only 85 of 267 flood-affected homeless families in the union were given CI sheets and money for their rehabilitation.

District Relief and Rehabilitation Office Head Assistant Abul Kalam Azad said 1,280 flood affected families lost their houses and homesteads due to floods. Six hundred and forty flood-affected homeless families were given 10,240 pieces of CI sheets (16 pieces per family) and Tk 38,40,000 (Tk 6,000 per family) under the rehabilitation programme.

Deputy Commissioner Shafiul Arif told the Daily Star that the rehabilitation materials were distributed among most vulnerable flood-affected homeless families. “If I get demand for rehabilitation materials from upazilas I will write to the ministry concerned, seeking more materials for rehabilitation of those families,” he added.