Susan Davis, CEO and President of BRAC USA is currently on a visit to Bangladesh, where she is witnessing the wake of the devastation left by Cyclone Aila.
On a trip to a new local government office building called Union Parishad in Shahosh (an area in Dumuria Upazilla in the Khulna District) yesterday, Susan encountered the harrowing sight of approximately three hundred people from Lotabunia and Bashkhali villages, attempting to take shelter. They had reached the shelter by swimming to safety on an embankment and then by using boats and other transportation to travel seven or eight kilometers from their submerged homes.
One woman, Paruba, recalls her experience:
"The water was rising so fast. I saw snakes in the water and knew we must leave. When it reached waist level, we swam to the embankment where the Union Parishad chairman had transport waiting to help us."
Another woman, Saraswati, nodded in agreement, as she too shared the same experience. Saraswati showed Susan the rice rations and water that BRAC staff had provided to her, and pointed out the place she was sleeping. With tears in her eyes and a trembling voice, she also pointed to the sari she wore, explaining that it had been donated to her by nearby villagers. She said, "Now, this is all I have left. I just want to get back to work. To have a place I can stand."
Many others approached BRAC staff, wanting to share their painful stories. Susan, visibly moved, recounts that, “Through their tears, the intensity of their loss was acutely visible”.
Today, Susan visited the Sundarbans, an area of mangrove forests and home to one of the world's largest tiger populations. Due to the significant damage done to the Sundarbans by Cyclone Aila, BRAC staff were compelled to drive down to the edge of the Sundarbans where the area was flooded. They then took a boat to a remote part which had effectively been reduced to an island as a result of the flooding caused by Cyclone Aila.
There, the BRAC team spoke to the survivors on the Island, asking them about their experiences and the availability of food and water. The lack of food and water was a significant concern. Despite the fact that it was past 4 o’clock in the afternoon, most people had eaten little or no food. Some had eaten meagre meals of rice and sugar; one had only eaten a banana that day, and two people had eaten nothing. BRAC staff distributed 5 kilograms of rice, potatoes, lentils, oil and water to several hundred families, ensuring that there would be a meal at least that evening for all the children and adults standing around them.
The scarcity of drinking water is aggravated by the unrelenting, intense heat, with temperatures this week reaching highs of above 80 degrees (Fahrenheit). One man, doing food-for-work to repair the broken embankment, said, "Sweet water is so scarce. I swear if you had some, you'd be mobbed for it right now." The raging floodwaters which has submerged the wells across the country has made the water undrinkable. However, some people became so desperately thirsty that they resorted to drinking the floodwater and as a result are suffering from diarrhea and dysentery
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People are trying to do any work they can to earn money for food and water. Some men and women are seen in the water dragging fishing nets trying to catch fish and tiny shrimp fry to sell.
Susan, who talked to people taking shelter both in Sundarban and in the Union Parishad building in Khulna, tells us how she has been affected by witnessing the loss and suffering resulting from Cyclone Aila:
“Having experienced Hurricane Katrina, Rita and Ike, I feel these people's pain so acutely. Somehow they are finding the strength to keep going. But they need to tell us their story. They stop us. They want someone to know. And perhaps care. “
Dr. Babar Kabir, Director of BRAC's Disaster, Environment and Climate Change Program (DECC) who is overseeing the relief effort at work in the center of this photo.
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