Poor coordination cause of concern
Relief efforts in the cyclone-hit districts seem to centre in areas that have been widely reported in the media while out-of-the-way places still wait to receive much-needed food and medical supplies.
Lack of coordination between government and non-government aid agencies and private organisations threatens to get in the way of effective relief distribution, complained locals and aid workers.
Supplies like food, water and medicines are not being given out equitably and according to specific needs of a locality, they added.
In many areas, people were still desperate for shelter and warm clothes while reports of children and infants contracting cold-related diseases continued to pour in yesterday, over a week after the storm tore through the south-western districts.
Warm clothes were noticeably absent from the materials being distributed. Most of the private relief packets contain some rice, lentil, and oil whereas there are hardly any utensils to cook meal.
Trucks laden with relief kept coming to worst-hit areas like Southkhali in Bagerhat's Sharonkhola upazila as private relief providers have concentrated their activities there, leaving most other areas in the upazila unattended.
At Nishanbaria union of Morelganj upazila, some three thousand people left homeless by Cyclone Sidr have been waiting for food and other aids at the local school ground for at least two days, but to no effect as of yesterday afternoon.
"They drive past my village on their way to Southkhali. I heard thousands have died there, but hundreds died in our village too. As many as 2,400 houses have been levelled in here, but we are not getting any aid," said Shamsu Jamaddar in Chalranda, only two villages away from Southkhali.
Many people have been injured jostling for relief packets thrown from trucks and other vehicles. Aid agency workers blame the messiness on inexperience of the volunteer organisations.
"Individuals and private organisations do not seem to bother much about planning their activities in coordination with the government and non-government agencies. Besides, they tend to focus on the areas that are grabbing the headlines. This all might undermine the relief operations," said Khulna divisional head of a major international aid agency.
"Coordination is a must to make sure the relief are distributed in line with local needs. But what we see is people (private donors) sending the wrong sort of materials to wrong places," he added.
Some big name companies however have been conducting their activities in coordination with local authorities and relief agencies.
As relief pours into villages like Southkhali that has gained substantial media attention due to its staggering death toll, areas that are hard to access and that have smaller death counts are not receiving adequate aid.
Outlying char islands, especially the ones off Golachipa and Dashmina upazila in Patuakhali, are most neglected in terms of receiving emergency supplies. Remote areas in Barguna and Patuakhali too are missing on the relief radar.
Warm clothes were noticeably absent from the materials being distributed. Most of the private relief packets contain some rice, lentil, and oil whereas there are hardly any utensils to cook food.
Sohrab Hossain from Patuakhali adds: Locals of Mirzaganj staged demonstrations at upazila headquarters Thursday in protest at alleged irregularities in relief distribution.
They claimed relief operations lack coordination and there is also a scarcity of relief goods.
"The union parishad (UP) member took our signatures on paper that says each of us was given 10kg rice, but in reality we got only five kg each," said Mohammad Sultan of Vajna.
"I got myself enrolled as a relief recipient, but during relief distribution today [Thursday] the local UP member accused me of being an outsider and did not give me anything," Rassel, 20, told this correspondent.
The local administration sources said non-government organisations (NGOs) are not informing them about what they are giving out as relief, so anomaly in distribution might occur.
Sources said cyclone victims in remote places were not getting anything while the areas nearer to the district headquarters were getting more than once.
Meanwhile, people have yet to have their houses rebuilt.
Individuals and different organisations including Red Crescent, Grameenphone, Warid Telecom, Save the Children, and Sammilito Sangskritik Jote Thursday distributed relief in the cyclone-affected areas in Patuakhali.
Health Adviser Major General (retd) ASM Matiur Rahman, Local Government Adviser Anwarul Iqbal and Jatiya Party Secretary General Ruhul Amin Hawlader were among those who distributed relief in the coastal district.
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