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Reported on Straits Times Online :
http://www.straitstimes.com/Free/Story/STIStory_179502.html
Photo hosted on http://www.straitstimes.com/
Cyclone survivors face starvation and disease
Aid workers say food deliveries hampered by damaged roads and
blocked waterways
FOOD CRUSH: A crowd pushing its way into a relief centre at
Tafalbari village in Bagerhat on Wednesday. -- PHOTO: AP
DHAKA - THE fear of disease and starvation was growing in
Bangladesh yesterday as relief workers battled to reach cyclone
victims left without adequate food and water for a week.
In some places, aid workers said the immediate challenge was simply
to supply enough food to keep people alive.
'We are fulfilling their immediate needs to keep them alive...they
need more food,' said Mr Emamul Haque of the World Food
Programme.
He said rice would be provided later but, at this 'critical point',
the priority was to get life-sustaining, high-energy biscuits to as
many people as possible, adding that the air force has delivered 95
tonnes with another 105 tonnes on the way.
The supplies were reaching victims slowly because many roads have
been washed away and narrow waterways - in some cases the only
means of access - are blocked by fallen trees.
Ms Wahida Bashar Ahmed of ActionAid said: 'It is unbelievable how
people have been surviving... If they do not get timely relief,
they could die or face debilitating outbreaks of disease.'
Cyclone Sidr smashed into Bangladesh's southern coast last Thursday
before cutting a swathe through central districts.
It wiped out countless villages, killing more than 3,400 people and
making millions homeless. Many victims were swept away by a 6m-high
sea surge, and thousands are still missing.
The United Nations Children's Fund said it had set up dozens of
camps to care for some of the thousands of children orphaned by the
cyclone.
'We have set up 30 child-friendly safe places where we give them
one hot meal a day and try to reduce their mental stress,' said
child protection officer Shabnaaz Zahereen.
A week after the disaster, the threat of water-borne disease is
also looming.
'There is a possibility of serious disease outbreaks because of
lack of fresh drinking water. Many people have started to suffer
from fever and diarrhoea,' said Mr Fazlul Haque of the Bangladesh
Rural Advancement Committee, the biggest non-governmental
organisation in the country.