Devastating Aila, 2009

“Earlier of the day weather was not likely favorable, yet I went out for collecting honey from Sundarban because that was my bread & butter. But that was really awful in my life when I went back from my work and found my house under water, nothing left, roof hanging on top of the tree, cattle’s washed away & that was thunderstorm to me I found my beloved wife dead!” he could not hold his tear anymore.

I was talking about Shohrab Hossain, 45, who lives in Saronkhola, Bagerhat District one of the victims of devastating cyclone Aila which swept across southern Bangladesh & eastern India on 25 May, 2009 at 2.00 pm.

Aila was the most devastating to Bangladeshi people after Sidr. According to the official statistics nearly four million people had been affected, with an official death toll of 190. Huge numbers of livestock had been lost with nearly 2,000 km of road either fully or partially destroyed. Thousands of acres of crops had been wiped out.

What was people’s response?

“There was nothing to lose. Everywhere was water surrounding us. But we were aware about cyclone so we started to struggle to cope with that situation” said 35 years old Rahima Begum.

But they were so much poor to bear it. With the help of government & some NGO, people tried to reform like before. Some volunteer group like CPP (Cyclone Preparedness Program) were also active during cyclone as told by local people.

I talked with the leader of CPP about cyclone preparation. They told me that CPP along with others volunteer group trained the local people about cyclone preparation & they are now able to cope with any type of disaster.

I asked some question to a local salesman about what preparation he adopted during Aila. He promptly replied me that he got trained from NGO & CPP & there was no problem to keep him & his family in a safe place during Aila.

Keep patience during cyclone, food storage, money saving, valuable things put underground including deed-document all are important during cyclone told by him. And he also concerned about what he will do after cyclone.

People’s recommended some measures:
Increasing training program.
More activeness of local volunteer group.
More cyclone shelter.
More infrastructural development.
More activity of Government & NGO.

I believe that one day our country will have the well preparedness of any type of disaster.