Cry for relief in Kolapara

With the air getting heavier with the stench of dead cattle with each passing day, two lakh Sidr-affected people under four unions of Kolapara wait patiently for the arrival of relief materials. They have been cut off without food or power from the rest of the country.
The ill-fated inhabitants of Mithaganj, Dhulashar, Lotachapli and Khaprabhanga UPs have been stranded without help for three whole days now. More bodies have been pulled out of wreckage on the third day since the cyclonic storm hit the locality. The district still remains disconnected from other parts of the country. Locals yesterday recovered the body of an adolescent girl from a fish enclosure in Nachnapara area in Kolapara upazilas. They recovered the body of a woman from a tree on Saturday.
Amidst acute scarcity of drinking water, many people have now resorted to drinking dirty water and this has caused the spread of diarrhoea and dysentery.
Meanwhile those who survived the Sidr blow in Char Gangamoti, Mombipara and Gorakhali Char continue their search for missing family members. They are also in need of immediate relief portions. About 1.2 lakh bags of rice in rice depots on the College Road were damaged in the cyclone.
In Kolapara upazila, the locality turns into a ghost city as darkness falls. Power has not been restored here. Cyclone Sidr has flattened all the kancha establishments in this upazila. Kuakata under this upazila, famous for its natural beauty now stands a different picture. The Jhau forests, eco-park and coconut garden have all undergone huge damage in the storm.
The people of Mithaganj, Lotachapli, Dhulashar and Kharabhanga UPs and Mombipara, Gongamoti, Gorakhali chars also awaiting the arrival of relief materials, especially food since the cyclone struck three days ago. A few thousand people of the char area are living under the open sky.
President Iajuddin Ahmed has visited the Khepupara High School under this upazila and distributed rice, cash money and lungis among the victims.
One Yakub, a doctor from Chaplibazar village, distributed Tk 42,000 in cash among the hurricane victims among the fishermen of Char Gangamoti.
Other areas haven't received any help.
Meanwhile amidst the lack of safe drinking water, and in the absence of help getting here, dysentery and diarrhoea is spreading fast.
Despite the desperation in the air, some people have already taken to the task of rebuilding with whatever they can salvage from the cyclone wreck. In Itabaria and Tiakhali UPs Sidr-affected people have started repairing and building their houses again. Some farmers have started cultivating their lands with whatever they have left at hand.