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Flood-hit villagers crowd markets for jobs

Rafiq Hasan, back from Daudkandi
As floodwaters are receding gradually, flood-hit villagers in Daudkandi upazila of Comilla, particularly poor ones, now fear a longer spell of miseries due to lack of jobs.
They are desperately looking for jobs to start life anew as government help and relief from various organisations and individuals would stop after the recession of floods.
Hundreds of people now crowd the village markets and roads every day in search of work to make a living.
Complete recession of water from the low-lying area will take a couple of months more and farming will start after that, creating jobs for them, the
sufferers said.
Fishing is also a major profession of the locals but it will be in full swing only when water recedes further.
The floods left a trail of devastation in almost all villages in the upazila, damaging houses, crops, cattle and poultry and washing away roads and culverts.
"We lost everything in the flood and have survived so far on our small savings and food assistance from the government and various organisations and individuals. Now it will be more difficult for us to survive if we do not get work," said Abdul Mannan of Lalpur, a village located between the rivers Meghna and Gumti.
Many other villagers echoed him.
Lalpur, around 10 km from Daudkandi upazila headquarters, is mostly under water till now and country boats are the only mode of transport. This correspondent reached the village by an engine boat on Friday.
Harunur Rashid, former chairman of Mazidpur union parishad, said there was hardly any house in the village that was not submerged by floodwater. All the 18 villages in the union have been affected by the flood.
The villagers also suffered huge losses because fish from big ponds and fish farms escaped as they went under water. He estimated the loss
of fish at about Tk 25 lakh in Lalpur only.
Around a dozen cows raised for the Eid market, priced at about Tk 30,000 each, also died in the floods.
Raging floods washed away a two-km- long road in the locality built at a cost of Tk 40 lakh only a few months ago, he mentioned.
Shakkar, a social organisation, distributed relief among 200 people in Lalpur on Wednesday. Earlier, a judge and a local industrialist also distributed relief alongside government food assistance, locals said.