3,000 pieces of warm clothes for 56,000 Aila-hit people
Cold-related and water-borne diseases have broken out in Aila-hit Dakope and Koira upazilas of the district, affecting a large number of people especially children and aged persons.
Over 2,000 children have been afflicted with cold-related and water-borne diseases like cough, pneumonia, vomiting and diarrhoea only in Koira, said Emdad Hossain, Koira upazila medical officer.
Meanwhile, only 3,000 winter clothes were sent to Dakope and Koira upazilas against the requirement of 56,000 for distribution among the homeless people affected by Aila.
According to official sources, 17,000 families of Dakope upazila and 25,000 of Koira upazila rendered homeless by cyclonic storm Aila on May 25 last year have still been staying in makeshift camps and cyclone centres without food, clothes, medicines and safe drinking water.
Talking to The Daily Star, Dakope Upazila Medical Officer Dr Akbar Hossain said the biting cold has so far claimed 14 lives, mostly aged persons, in last two weeks in the upazila.
Medical officers of both the upazilas apprehended that the situation could worsen further in absence of medical teams and sufficient amount of medicines.
Sources at the Khulna District Relief and Rehabilitation Office said before the advent of winter they had informed the ministry concerned about the need for 40,000 warm clothes for Koira upazila and 16,000 for Dakope upazila.
"Last week, we received only 3,000 blankets for the two Aila-hit upazilas. The blankets have already been distributed," said the district relief officer.
The officer could not say whether the two upazilas would get the remaining 53,000 blankets or not.
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