Barguna, Nov 19 (bdprem.com) – Four days into the fateful Thursday, when the monstrous cyclone scraped across the southern districts, the survivors were searching for their missing loved ones, drinking water and anything to eat.
Nurunnobi Khan, bdprem.com senior sub-editor roaming the coastal belt, depicts the heart-rending plight of the southerners who have not seen any succour at many places in the past 96 hours after the devastating tropical storm Sidr ripped through vast tracts of Bangladesh.
Dateline: Arpangashia Union of Aamtali upazila, Monday.
Abdul Khaleque, a resident of Karaibaria village, stands desolately beside a kola —a huge expanse of cropped land—which it really was only four days back.
"You'll find bodies only buried in this field of fallen crops. I searched out my elder brother there."
Arpangashia is one of the worst-hit unions in the area, reports Khan.
"We started running in hurry and confusion at around 11 Thursday night when the storm surge breached the village protection embankment. I got pulled away by the strong current after the ferocious tide swelled up to my shoulder in no time," said Khaleque.
"We all tried to keep ourselves afloat by holding on to tree branches, when my brother Abdul Aziz Howladar was wrenched away by the tide. My neighbour Sonamuddin's grownup daughter too was washed away; her body was found in the field the following day."
Sohrab Mollah, 40, of Charapara village moaned, "There were those who got devoured by the storm surge and blown away by the fiery winds that night; and we, the survivors, too have been left behind naked, bereft of all our possessions."
Mollah escorted all his family members to the school building Wednesday night as soon as the danger signal was aired and they came back home Thursday morning.
"On Thursday again, the women were sent to that school (shelter). I didn't know what I could do with all my livestock. Then I untied them when the tidal waters were about to topple the embankment and I climbed up a high tree," Mollah sighed.
Almost all villagers in the area had similar stories to recount. People who had taken shelter in the Newpara mosque eventually got on top of its roof to save themselves.
Lutfar Shikdar, another local, said those who survived were facing acute crisis of water, food and shelter now.
The local chairman, however, ladled out 1.5 kg of rice per capita since that day. They haven't received any government relief to date, he said.
"Brother, please write about us and what we've lost on that fateful night. We've been trying to survive since eating even the inedible, you see," Shikdar implored.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment