PEOPLE of the north and north-east fear a second flooding spell as major rivers continue to swell amidst torrential rain and onrush of water from the upstream. The first phase of the floods hit the areas in the second week of June and water started receding on June 22, but the events have taken an alarming turn for the past three days. Low-lying areas of Sylhet, Sunamganj, Lalmonirhat and Sirajganj are the worst hit by the latest spell of flooding. In the Rangpur division, crops on about 16,383 hectares of land have been damaged and the agricultural extension department has assessed the damage to the tune of Tk 134 crore. In the Sylhet division, people who have just returned from shelters and spent the past few days repairing their houses with the last bit of savings are now in total despair. Meanwhile, the Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre in its forecast said the flood situation in Sylhet and Sunamganj may deteriorate slightly in a day or two. In the worsening flood situation, the government seems to have taken a back seat and its relief programmes for the people in flood-hit districts are far from adequate.

More than seven million people, according to a recent statement of Red Cross, are in ‘desperate need’ of shelter and aid. The latest government data on relief allocation shows that it has spent Tk 7.11 crore in cash and given out 5,820 tonnes of rice in 14 districts beginning on April 1. A report of the Need Assessment Working Group Bangladesh said that Tk 4.67 crore and 3,720 tonnes of rice were mobilised during the June flooding. In June, as media reports said, government spending on each affected person was about Tk 7–8 and less than half a kilogram of rice. Some disaster management experts observed that the relief for flood victims provided through crowd-funds and the development sector heavily outweighs what was given by the government. The continued suffering of the flood-hit population raises serious questions about the government’s short- and long-term disaster management mechanisms. Flood affected people complain that they could have minimised their losses with a better flood forecasting system. Government officials have acknowledged that they do not have a standard procedure to accurately assess losses in the agricultural sector. The significant weakness of the disaster management programme, as noted by experts and people in flood-hit areas, is that the government is slow in responding to disasters.

The government must, therefore, prioritise the immediate humanitarian crisis in the flood-hit districts and allocate adequate financial and other resources to help the victims. It must announce a long-term relief programme with provisions for free seed, fertiliser for farmers and food aid for all. For a better flood management system, the government should modernise its flood forecasting system and develop a mechanism to assess the socio-economic costs caused by flooding.