Floods in northeast: Private relief efforts outpace govt’s

Around 3:00am last Wednesday, one family was seen hard at work making 400 bags of relief to be taken for distribution the next morning.

The medicine supplies had only arrived a few hours ago, collected by an organisation called Perceive.

Under the light of a single bulb, eight-year-old Sristi put two packets of orsaline and two strips of water purification tablets in each bag, while her father cut out cord ties, and her mother tied the sacks and set them aside.

Hours later, their relief boats would be the first to reach some of the most remote villages in Gowainghat and Jaintiapur.

According to data, the relief for flood victims provided through crowdfunds and the development sector heavily outweighs that given by the government.

More than seven million people are in "desperate need" of shelter and aid, the Red Cross said in a statement yesterday.

Government allocation data from June 27, 2022, shows that it had spent Tk 7.11 crores in cash and given out 5,820 tonnes of rice (worth about Tk 23 crore) across 14 districts from April 1.

Of those, Tk 4.67 crore (half million USD) and 3,720 tonnes of rice were mobilised during the June floods, according to a report published by Needs Assessment Working Group (NAWG) on June 26.

This means each affected person got only Tk 6.6 and less than half a kilogram of rice from the government two weeks into the floods.

According to the disaster management and relief ministry's own data, no cash support was given to the whole of Sylhet and Moulvibazar yesterday.

Data also shows that Sylhet district received the least amount of food support -- 55 tonnes of rice -- yesterday.

The NAWG report said that humanitarian agencies have mobilised 4.7 million dollars, while Brac has allocated Tk 17 crore so far.

This is in addition to the crowdfunded relief distribution efforts that have been going on in full swing without getting counted, with each fund ranging from Tk five lakh to Tk 50 lakh.

A website called reliefmanagement.me, which is trying to track crowdfunded relief efforts, has so far counted 73 donors across Sylhet and Sunamganj.

However, the website relies on user-submitted data and the figure there is conservative.

These crowdfunded ventures were initiatives taken, more often than not, by friends and families of those affected.

Meanwhile, social media influencers like Syed Sayedul Haque Suman claimed to have raised Tk one crore in two days.

While government representatives on the field continue to say the allocated relief they got from the state is enough, flood victims strongly disagree.

These correspondents of The Daily Star were able to reach flood affected areas while traveling with private organisations providing relief.

Speaking to them on Friday, Md Lokman, union parishad chairman of Tawakkul in Sylhet, said, "What we have is enough and we are hopeful of getting more in the future."

As he spoke, hundreds of people banged on the gates of the parishad office demanding relief.

Several residents said they had either not received relief, or received a paltry amount only once.

On Thursday, Abdul Latif, union parishad member of Darbast, also insisted that the government relief they got is enough.

"I got 24 sacks of rice. The government is really helping the people of my union."

His union has 1,100 families.

On that particular day, multiple residents of the Uttar Gardhana village of the union told this newspaper that they had received no relief at all.

One exception was Kabir Ahmed, a member of Paschim Islampur union of Companiganj upazila, who recently said, "For around four thousand people in three villages in my ward, I received only 70 sacks of food and one tonne of rice, all of which is inadequate."

Debajit Singha, additional divisional commissioner (general) in Sylhet, recently told our correspondents, "The relief distribution was hampered due to a lack of coordination in the early days. No one really goes hungry now as locals help each other."

Aytun of Chatlarpar village in Jaintiapur would disagree.

When these correspondents met her last Thursday, she had already spent nine days surviving on only chira (flattened rice).

No boats carrying any relief came to her village until that day. "Do you have some rice that you can give me?" she asked.

Md Mosharrof Hossain, divisional commissioner in Sylhet, said, "The government-allotted relief and those coming from non-government sources are adequate, when combined, for the flood-affected people in the division." Meanwhile, Md Enamur Rahman, state minister for disaster management and relief, took to the parliament yesterday and spoke at length about how well the government was doing to help the flood victims.

He called it the worst flood in 122 years but he failed to mention what the needs of the affected people were.