Summary of a Conversation with Somnath SinghaRoy of REFA

Somnath-da has been sending new teams of 6-7 volunteers, on a rotational basis, to the affected areas. They have been distributing food on a person-to-person basis every 3 days. Powdered milk is being distributed in small packets for the children. Apart from this, bleaching powder and medicine, and clothes for women have been distributed. But generally its really hard to reach the people living away from the river, in the interiors. Water hasn't gone down yet. The government has been suggesting to use pumps to pump off the water, but at the moment there is no outlet fo the water, since the drainage system has been destroyed. So people are just waiting for the waters to go down, so that the drains can be repaired before the remaining water is pumped out.
Many hand-tubewells have been damaged, and people have been suggested not to drink water from those, (mineral water is being distributed at the time being). The volunteers have tested the water from the wells before letting people use them.
A layer of salt has formed on the agricultural lands. They will have to dig up about one foot of earth to be able to cultivate crops.
The weather department has said that 2009 monsoons will probably bring more such storms, so people are really scared at the moment. The mud houses have been destroyed, and it seems that the only solution are brick houses.
As far as medical needs goes, there are no doctors or medical facilities in the area. The volunteer teams generally take doctors with them, and thats the only option people have there at the moment. Although there have been outbreaks of Diarrhoea etc, the medical situation has been under control in these areas. The places which are hard to reach are in serious trouble due to water-bourne diseases.

But the Government has been completely oblivious to these needs. Although relief packages have been promised, nothing has reached the people yet. The political parties are playing dirty politics over the money, particularly since the since the elections are just over, the political leaders seem to have no incentive to actually look into these matters. Somnathda and others are trying to sensitize the media about this. Pratidin will probably publish an article soon, they had asked for some photographs. Anandabazar has been hard to reach out to, but they are trying to catch hold of the South 24 Parganas correspondents.
He said that the amount of work that needs to be done immediately and also in the future, is impossible to do without Governement aid. Thisi is too big a project to be done by the CBO's alone. At the moment they are trying to involve as many local clubs as they can, to mobilize as much support as possible.
Somnathda will be going back to Sunderbans on the 27th, they are hoping that the water will subside till then. He will prepare a report on the ground situation then, about the rehabilitation projects that will have to be taken up. He said MLC plans to keep working in that area together with the other groups, which means AID can work through Mandra. He will also send a report in a couple of days (like the one he had sent earlier), based on the work of the volunteers who are working there now.
 
< Prev   Next >
[ Back ]