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Girls most harassed at disaster shelters

Plan International report launch told

Staff Correspondent
In the event of disasters, cyclone and flood shelters are usually where adolescent girls get sexually harassed the most, speakers said at a report launch yesterday.
The report, "Double Jeopardy: Adolescent Girls in Disasters", commissioned by Plan International, was unveiled marking the occasion of International Day of the Girl Child, observed on October 11, at the capital's Spectra Convention Center.
Shohagi, a teenage resident of the capital's Jatrabari, recounted at the programme how her neighbour was raped and killed in a shelter during the 2004 flood.
"The shelter only had an open toilet in the garden. My neighbour-a girl my age-was picked up from there by some boys, who used to stalk her, raped and left to die," she said.
As a result, Shohagi got scared and stopped eating to avoid going to the toilet, she stated.
Another resident of Jatrabari, Amena, recalled how the government shelter she took refuge in during the same 2004 flood was ill-equipped for women.
"There was only an open tap for bathing. Men and women had to bathe together. I tried at first but got scared by some men who were leering at me while I washed myself," she narrated.
Taslima Akhter, whose house caught fire in 2010, took refuge in a shelter only to get sexually abused. "When he kept touching me, 1 almost felt like going back into the fire again," the teenager said of an unknown man groping her in the dark.
In many shelters, men and women have to share common sleeping places, said Haribondhu Sarma, consultant at Plan International.
They often have restricted access to clean cloths or sanitary napkins during disasters, meaning they have to use unhygienic practices to take care of the situation, he added.
"Often, during relief
distribution, the young girls are forced to have sex with the relief officer to get their allotted ration. Parents are also seen giving in to the pressure," Sarma said.
Zeenat Ara Begum, head of Disaster Risk Management at the organisation, observed that girls were pushed into underage marriages because they were unable to protect them.
Mohammad Abdul Wazed, director general of the Department of Disaster Management, stated that during disasters, more girls ended up as casualties than boys.
"One reason is because girls are kept from information about where to go for help, and often are discouraged from learning lifesaving skills like climbing and swimming," he said.