No relief, no water in remote areas

Hundreds of thousands of people in remote areas of Barguna and Patuakhali have been starving and suffering from an acute crisis of drinking water and medicines as broken communication system has cut them off from relief operations.
Thousands of inhabitants in these remote areas were injured in the cyclone and badly need immediate medical assistance.
Relief from the government, military and other agencies reached a few bigger chars close to the shore yesterday as the locals cleared the roads on the islands.
However, most of the far-off chars in the seven upazilas of Patuakhali have not yet received any relief and survivors in these areas are eating literally anything they can get their hands on.
In Ashar Char, south of Barguna, many survivors are even eating seaweed, leaves and core of banana trees.
"People in large chars have received relief as their devastation was widely reported. But no one has come to see us," a survivor in Ashar Char told The Daily Star. Most of them swam across to the mainland and looked for food and drinking water as of late Sunday.
The same situation was seen at Kauwar Char in the remote corner of Patuakhali.
Yakub, inhabitant of the island, said they have been living on reeds. "We do not have our fishing nets or trawlers, we have nothing to eat and nowhere to get food," he said.
Survivors from a number of chars off Golachipa who could make it to the mainland said there are thousands of others stranded on the islands but there was no food.
There are other chars where relief has not yet reached, including Char Hair, Sonar Char and Rupar Char, five-seven hours trawler-ride away from Golachipa and home to tens of thousands.
Rahim from Patharghata, the southern-most mainland upazila of Barguna, lost five members of his family during Thursday night's cyclone. "My three daughters and I have not eaten anything in three days. My sister's legs were badly injured as a palm tree fell on her," he said.
"Where can I find some food? Where will I get medicines for my sister? She is still bleeding," Rahim said in a choked voice.
Local NGO Sangram distributed a very little quantity of rice among the survivors. But that was all it could do.
An elderly woman crouching next to her unconscious pregnant daughter on the embankment in Patharghata's Padma village begged to these correspondents for the treatment of her daughter.
"Her husband died in the storm...Where am I going to get help for her? I have lost everything," she wailed.
It was Sunday and her daughter was still breathing but her fate seemed uncertain.
The chief adviser and the army chief visited Patharghata on Friday but relief could not be sent to these villages worst hit by Sidr as all roads remained blocked until early yesterday.
There are allegations that the upazila nirbahi officer of Patharghata has not visited any of these places in two days since Sidr hit the shore.