Water, water everywhere but…

Yes, and there isn't a single drop to drink. The flood situation that has hit South Asia is taking its toll with thousands marooned and stranded without proper help and relief. But, this is not a new incident in Bangladesh . Floods come every year, sometime in a small scale and sometimes, in a large way and, for certain people of low lying areas, facing flood is a routine work - a challenge that has become an inseparable part of life itself. Yet, knowing this, the measures to pre-empt such a natural calamity is always pathetic. To start with, the news that flooding is going on reaches the capital not when the water level starts to rise but when large areas have been inundated already. Hence, by the time the overall infrastructure starts rolling, it's too late. And, surprisingly, this has been happening for some time. The question is: why don't we have an emergency flood tackling response ready waiting to go into action at the first order?
TV footage often shows us marooned people scrambling for help or waiting for help to arrive and, in most cases these situations are chaotic and without any discipline. Perhaps, it's time to have regular pre-monsoon flood response assessment in Bangladesh . At this moment, the water level is receding but with scarcity of fresh drinking water, food and adequate medical supply the incidences of water-borne diseases are on the rise. And, almost all medical centers are reporting huge number of patients coming in with dysentery, cholera and other ailments. Logical to assume that despite the decreasing water level, the problems, both economic and health related will linger on for sometime.
As for the latter, most people, faced with the calamity have lost their domestic animals and crops and, their living areas are under water. Yes, these are not new images for us but, maybe, it is time we took some concerted steps to ensure that flood related damage in the future remains limited. NGO's and humanitarian organisations including CARE, BRAC and others have always been on the forefront in helping people during natural disasters but, we believe that even before the onset of monsoon, the authority must have some kind of preparation for an emergency.
Most humanitarian organisations are now asking help from the people of the capital and, the response has been encouraging. But, though it's better to help late than not at all, maybe it would be prudent to have an annual collection of non-perishable items like clothes, blankets, snake repellents irrespective of the possibility of a flood or any other natural disaster.
Reaching the remote areas and extending help to the people totally surrounded by water has been identified as a major problem but, knowing this, we do not see enough boats or similar water-vessels in operation. Again, every time there is a crisis, the effort to go out to help turns into a mismanaged scramble rather than a well-planned operation. This is unfortunate because if thousands are suffering now then it's because policy makers did not have the foresight to plan ahead. Of course, the media is going over the top using the flood situation as a failure point for the present government, but blaming this government would be making it into a scapegoat for negligence and callousness of the previous ones. Six months is definitely not enough to become ready for a flood and we all know that the present regime was busy purging the country of the elements that are responsible for the absence of a proper flood-tackling infrastructure.
Be that as it may, relief work is already underway but this should be a warning for future natural disasters. Winter is only four months away and this is the right time to prepare for cold spells that leave hundreds of people dead every year. Then, after that there will be the cyclone season and, if the present government thinks ahead and ensures that during that time all river-using vessels will have to meet with some safety regulations and if, certain steps like walkie-talkie communication, lifeboats, a specially commissioned life saving unit are taken then there will not be useless loss of lives.
If the present government wishes to put Bangladesh on the right track and ensure that development-stalling elements are exterminated then it also has to do certain things to win total public support. Unless they act promptly to be prepared for whims of nature, the media is going to make a villain out of it and in the end, the general people, swayed by the papers and the TV coverage will want to go back to the previous systems. After all, it should be clear by now that, most people in our country forget too quickly how the country had to endure a nexus of corruption, strikes and cronyism for decades in the name of democracy.