Hurricane Aila: Pictures from the Sunderbans, and details for relief contribution
Pictures from Sonakhali
Pictures from Bhandarkhali
Sonakhali Medical Camp
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Social monitoring in the Sunderbans - where, and how much
A document prepared from the June 7 2009 meeting of Sambad Manthan
Click here to read Social monitoring in the Sunderbans - where, and how much [PDF, Bengali] »
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Hurricane Ayla: An appeal for help, and an assessment of the damage
May 27, 2009
Hurricane Ayla has caused extensive damage all over West Bengal, in particular the Sundarbans area of South Bengal.
Thousands of houses have been decimated, dams have been breached. The latest governmental statistic shows 68 people dead, of which 46 are from South Bengal. These are just the preliminary reports as many interior places are yet to be reached by the rescue teams. The home secretary puts the total number of homes damaged at 61 thousand while total number of hurricane affected people at 22.3 lakhs.
Extensive areas of the Sundarbans like Sandeshkhali, Jogeshganj and Hemnagar which are naturally below the water-level are meant to get inundated with every high tide till the dams are repaired. People there have taken refuge temporarily in school buildings, tourist lodges and similar concrete buildings built upon comparatively high land. Food and drinking water are major issues in these parts. Some of our friends who set off at 4 in the morning managed to reach a village in Sandeshkhali at around 6 in the evening. Whatever relief materials that they could take with them in a motorized country boat (locally called Bhatbhati) was a droplet in the ocean of immense need.
Places like Basirhat, Hasnabad which are connected to the mainland through rail and roads have started to get the government provided relief materials but we doubt if the same is true for the more remote areas. In fact, what our friends let us know is that a one-time relief is hardly enough in this case because lands in the Sundarbans are mainly mono-cropped and once salt water enters the farmland it is not possible to cultivate it before a year. Thus, the breach in a large number of dams in these areas might actually result in a much larger loss of the local economy than can be suggested by the immediate damage figures.
We feel that individuals should complement the state efforts for relief and rehabilitation. Our friends in Kolkata have already got started in this in spite of their limited resources. The team also comprises of a number of students from the Calcutta Medical College. The motor-boats (the only means of reaching those remote areas) are being billed at 2500 rupees, and a single boat full of food and water supply is hardly sufficient to meet the needs of an entire village. The remoteness of these places is making the relief operations extremely expensive and any significant relief effort does need your generous help. In India or abroad, wherever you are, if you are interested in contributing in this, please contact any of the undersigned. We can figure out the most convenient and fastest way of reaching your help to the people in need.
Waiting in anticipation of your help,
Warm Regards,
Pinaki Mitra: pinakimitra74 [at] gmail [dot] com
1-609-384-1302
Suvarup Saha: suvarups [at] gmail [dot] com
1-574-514-3144
Biswajit Hazra: bhazra12 [at] gmail [dot] com
+91-9432269451
