Time to focus on rehabilitation

With the fast receding of waters of the Surma and the Kushiyara rivers, the livelihood of flood-affected areas in Sylhet and Sunamganj is slowly getting back to normal.

However, as a side effect of the fast receding waters, the flood situation in some low-lying areas on the bank of the Kushiyara at Fenchuganj and Balaganj upazilas in Sylhet further deteriorated.

The Flood Forecast and Warning Centre (FFWC) in its daily report forecasted an improved flood situation in the districts.

With no floods in the forecast, government offices are now planning for the rehabilitation of the distressed people. The relief distribution is also going to end soon.

So far, 20 lakh people were directly and indirectly affected by the flood in all 13 upazilas in Sylhet and seven out of 11 upazilas in Sunamganj.

According to the district relief and rehabilitation offices, the relief last was sent to the upazilas on Monday and as the situation improves, no further relief will be distributed.

In Sylhet, 551 tonnes of rice and 11,800 sacks of dry food were distributed as relief along with other food materials worth Tk 15 lakh.

Meanwhile, in Sunamganj, 175 tonnes of rice, 4,000 sacks of dry food, and other food materials worth Tk 12 lakh were distributed.

Md Nurul Islam, district relief and rehabilitation officer in Sylhet, said, "Now we're assessing the damage done by the flood. After the final report, the ministry of disaster management will allot corrugated tin and relevant support for rebuilding damaged houses in the district. Other respective departments will also work on recovering the damage."

Shafiqul Islam, the district relief and rehabilitation officer in Sunamganj echoed the same.

Besides that, the flood incurred a good amount of damage to the roads and crop production.

According to respective offices in Sylhet and Sunamganj, more than 650 kilometres of road under the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) and Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) were damaged along with six culverts.

Meanwhile, around 19,000 ponds, fish farms and hatcheries washed away in two districts, causing a loss of around Tk 22 crore according to the fisheries offices in the districts.

Not only that, the Boro and the Aus paddy were also damaged.

According to agriculture extension offices in the districts, more than 2,500 hectares of Boro harvest were damaged along with more than 1,600 hectares of Aus saplings.

Additionally, 1,700 hectares of vegetables and 75 hectares of peanuts were also damaged. According to the FFWC, Surma at 3:00pm yesterday was flowing 38cm (above danger level) at Kanaighat in Sylhet while 23cm and 42cm below danger level at Sylhet city and Sunamganj town.