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Health officials fear diarrhoea epidemic

From S. Y. Bakht
SYLHET, May 25 : The floods that have engulfed vast areas in the greater Sylhet district are said to be the worst In recent memory.
"I haven't seen such an onrush of water in my lifetime." said A. S. M. Anwarul Islam, the 46- year-old Chairman of Pashchlm Gourlpur' union of Balaganj upazlla of Sylhet. one of the worst affected areas in the region.
"Even the older people in the area say that this flood is much worse than the great flood of the Bangla year 1336,
he noted.
Huge areas of Sylhet. Mau-Ivlbazar, Habiganj and Suna-mganj have been inundated due to excessive onrush of water from the Borak basin in neighbouring India.
All major rivers in the districts including Surma, Kus-hiyara, Monu and Khowai recorded a sharp rise in their water levels far above the danger levels recently.
Incessant rainfall and fre-?|uent storms in the area have urther aggravated the flood situation In these districts.
Damage to life and properly Is reported to be colossal. Relief materials reaching the affected areas are said to be very Inadequate and some discrepancies in the distribution system have been fourfd.
There is a severe shortage of drinking water in the affected areas as most tubewells have been submerged and the supply of water purifying tablets is also inadequate.
Water-borne diseases are spreading fast in the districts and health officials fear an out-break of diarrhoeal diseases in an epidemic form in the flood affected areas
During a visit last week to a number of unions and villages In the upazilas of Golapganj. Kanaighat. Fenchuganj and Balagonj in Sylhet and Rajnagar upazila in Maulvlbazar. many of
"My uncle died a few days ago. not because of the floods but due to old age ailments, and we could not find any dry place to bury him, so we had to bury him at a graveyard In a near by union." pointed out Amlrul Islam. He noted that he could not even open a shelter in his union.
Although the official death toll from drowning, lightning, various water-borne diseases and snake bites stands at over 60 In the two districts, unofficial reports claim that more than 100 people died. A large number of cattlehead and poultry was also lost
Thousands of acres of" standing crops have been submerged and in many places crops harvested earlier were also lost as there was no place to store the stocks. According to official estimates, more than 2.5 lakh acres of cropland was inundated in the two districts.
"We lost all our standing crops and we couldn't even save the food stocks we had at home." said Monfor Mia. a farmer of Shlrbhog village in Rajnagar.
He said that his home was damaged by a norwester earlier and then the water gushed in from the Monu river about two weeks ago. forcing him and his family of four to abandon their home and take shelter in the nearby Panchgao union offices.
Educational institutions in the districts were also sustained extensive damage. More than 8000 schools, colleges to be either fully or partially damaged in Sylhet and Maulvlbazar.
The dams embankments in the districts were also severely damaged. The Surma dyke at Kanaighat alone was breached at 32 different places, according to upazila officials .
The dams and embankments of the rivers Monu. Dholai. Juri and Sonal In Maulvlbazar broke in as many as 125 different places, district officials said.
Hundreds of kilometres of roads, numerous bridges and culverts were reported to have been damaged.
The road link between Sylhet and the upazilas of Kanaighat Zaklganj. Goalnghat. Companiganj. Bianibazar and Balagonj continues to remain snapped
A trip to the Balagonj upazila headquarters, a distance of about eight miles by road, took over two hours on an engine boat
Even the Dhaka-Sylhet road link was threatened and at one time as many as ten different places of the road were submerged.
The approaches to the floating-bridge at Sadipur in Balaganj on the river Kushiyara is still under water.
Balaganj is one of the worst affected upazilas in Sylhet district. All 1 1 unions of the upazila arc affected by the flood waters. Water from the Kushiyara river and the adjoining haors of Rouwa and Shatal appears to have merged into a mighty sea of water.
The unions of Purba and Pashchlm Gouripur. Purba and Pashchim Pollampur. Usman-pur. and Khosrupur are mostly under knee-deep water.
Even the upazila town is largely submerged. The hospital. schools, colleges, police station and most of the houses have water inside them. The upazila Local Sales Depot (LSD) food godown is also threatened. The Balaganj bazar was under knee-deep water.
The Rajnagar upazila of Maulvlbazar is also severely affected by the flood waters. Water from the over-flooded Monu river and the adjoining Khauwa Dighi haor has Inundated a large number of unions in the area.
Hundreds of houses were submerged upto the roof level and thousands of people are
marooned fn relatively high ground in these villages
This correspondent also visited a flood shelter next to the Panchgao union offices, where more than 70 people of some 20 families were living crammed in a building of about 300sq ft area for the last two weeks.
An engine boat trip in the Khauwa Dighi haor and the ad • Joining areas late last week re vealed that the villages of Koala. Rokta, Amirpur. Jalal-pur. Borogao. Banarai. Kubja. Shahrampur and Bahadurganj were almost completely sub merged.
Villagers of the Rajnagar area said that the dam at the river Monu was allegedly cut loose deliberately to save Maulvlbazar town from being flooded. The town is located on the southern side of the Monu dam. while on the northern side is Rajnagar. The dam was cut allegedly near Ba likhandi union at Doupasha under Maulvlbazar upazila on 9 May. said Md Faisal Ahmed, a madras ha teacher of Amirpur In Rajnagar.
Relief operations in the flood affected areas started off very slowly at the beginning. However, relief efforts were geared up when State Minister for Social Welfare and Women's Affairs. Md Tariqul Islam was sent to coordinate relief operations in Sylhet and Sunamganj.
In Maulvlbazar. Abdul Matin Choudhury. MP. (BNP-Nara-yanganj) was sent by the Prime Minister to coordinate relief efforts In the district.
US transport planes were being used to move relief materials to Sylhet and Indian and Bangladeshi helicopters transported relief goods to the upazilas.
The army Is also extensively Involved in the overall relief operations.
At Kanaighat, a contingent of the army built a makeshift helipad within a few hours.
Whatever relief materials are reaching the flood affected areas are far from being adequate and many remote areas a,re yet to receivj any relief goods, local people said. There were no food stocks even at the LSD godown at Kanaighat when the State Minister visited the upazila on 21 May.
A day earlier, he yislted the food godown at Sylhet and found that the stock there was being delivered short of the standard weight, a reliable source said. He expressed his dissatisfaction about the affair and warned officials of serious consequences if it was repeated in future.
On the way to Balaganj on 22 May. the State Minister stopped at a flood shelter at Doyamir to distribute relief materials.