DHAKA, Aug 11 (NNN-BSS) – The floods in parts of south-west Bangladesh, due to the onrush of upstream waters, coupled with heavy downpours, have affected over one million people and displaced tens of thousands.
According to the country’s National Disaster Response Coordination Centre (NDRCC), under the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief, 843,505 people were affected by floods in Chattogram district, which is some 240 km away from the capital, Dhaka.
The report, published on the ministry’s website on Wednesday night, said, authorities have rushed teams of disaster response force to carry out rescue operation, distribute relief materials and supervise centres in at least five districts, including Chattogram, Bandarban, Rangamati, Cox’s Bazar and Feni, where tens of thousands of people have taken shelter.
Quoting local sources, leading English newspaper, Dhaka Tribune, said yesterday that, around 480,000 people in Cox’s Bazar have been affected by the flood, leaving houses and wading through flooded roads or on boats, in search of shelter, or a dry ground to live temporarily.
As floodwaters recede, traffic resumed on the major Chattogram-Cox’s Bazar Highway, yesterday.
Bangladeshi soldiers were deployed on Tuesday to Chattogram, to tackle its worsening situation of torrential rains.
At least six people in separate landslides died in Cox’s Bazar district in the past week, when incessant rains and the rush of upstream waters inundated many places. Another death was reported yesterday from Chattogram.
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) said, it has relocated over 15,000 Rohingya refugees and 300,000 members of the local communities in Cox’s Bazar.
The fragile infrastructure of the refugee camps, some 400 km south-east of Dhaka, has been severely damaged, with over 2,000 shelters destroyed, as well as, facilities such as health centres and community centres that are vital to the wellbeing of refugees.
Millions of people in Bangladesh, criss-crossed by hundreds of rivers, suffer from flooding as the low-lying country experiences seasonal floods every year during the Jun-Sept monsoon, when rivers that feed into the Bay of Bengal burst their banks.– NNN-BSS
