A Report on Cyclone (Aila) affected area of Patharpratima and Mathurapur-II Block of Indian Sunderbans.
Backdrop :
A powerful cyclone, Aila, crossed over the Gangetic West Bengal and other parts of the State on 25th May 2009 causing huge devastation in the entire State and specially in the Indian Sunderbans. It is described as one of the worst case of natural disaster in this region in the 21st century. Severe cyclone along with heavy rainfall increased the quantum of damage. Among the districts, South 24 Parganas is the worst affected by this cyclone. Sunderbans being a part of the district has been affected severely. The geographical location of the Sunderbans has always kept this region on high alert whenever there is a forecast of any kind of indecent weather condition. Waves created by the cyclone in the distributaries of the Hoogly river has broken the embankments and flooded the island villages resulting to entry of saline water there. A large no of houses and agriculture land has gone under water leaving lakhs of inhabitants homeless. Although Sunderbans have been declared as a World Heritage Site by UNICEF, the socio-economic condition of the people here are far below average. Development options are very less than other parts of the State. People here have to struggle for their existence and this cyclone “Aila” has added more challenges before them for the future. Economically the people of Sunderbans has been pushed 10 years back by this disaster.
Situational Analysis :
As per UNICEF report, it is approximately 1.5 million people have been affected by the cyclone in the South 24 Parganas with an estimated death of 96 people.
Two Blocks viz. Patharpratima and Mathurapur-II are among the worst hit Blocks in the district. Both these blocks are the integral part of the Indian Sunderbans. It is estimated that within Patharpratima Block out of15 Gram Panchyats (GP) 9 (Herembogopalpur, Laxmijanardanpur, Achintanagr, Sridharnagar, G-Plot, Banashyamnagar Brajaballavpur, Patharpratima and Gopalnagar) GPs are in the priority list. Here approximately 98826 people are afftected and homeless out of whom 44540are women and 22742 are children. 3212 olderly people are also in the list of homeless. 9010 houses have been washed out completely whereas 8695 houses are partly damaged. Approximately 30000 acre of agricultural land has been damaged by logging of saline water. Almost 10.5 kms of embankment is no more in dependable condition as there is almost breaching on 84 points.
In the Mathurapur-II Block out of 11 GPs 2 GPs (Nandakumarpur and Nagendrapur) are to be taken care of more at present. Here approximately 12992 people are homeless out of whom 5615 are women, 2045 are children and 612 are senior citizens. 4150 acre of agricultural land are damaged which may be usable again after three years. Almost 2 kms of embankment have been damaged having breaching at 13 points. The over all situation in this two blocks are seriously concerning the Government as well as other stakeholders operating in this area. As the after effect of the cyclone a big question mark is there so far resettlement of these homeless people are concerned. There are very limited options left with this cross-section for coming back to the mainstream.
Need Assessment :
The disaster has resulted to immense economic loss to the affected people in the Sunderbans, It is understood that people affected here will have to start everything from the scratch level. Based on the current situation the needs could be categorized in two sections i.e 1. Immediate relief and 2. Resettlement and Rehabilitation of the affected people. In the context of immediate relief it could be said that more supply of food grains (rice, pulses), dry food (pasted rice), Tarpaulin/Plastic sheets, drinking water, medicines (metrogyl, antibiotics, paracetamols, zeoline/halogen tablets, ORS, normal saline, antacids etc), kerosene oil and lamps, sufficient cloths, bleaching powder, soap are to be mobilized to address the needs of the people here. It will take another three to four days for the people to start their resettlement process. Rehabilitation of these people calls for support in terms of mass housing, repairing of partially damaged houses, food security (food basket consisting of rice, pulses, potato and some kitchen garden seeds),
livelihoods options, health support (both preventive and curative) and education. Insufficiency in rehabilitation programme may lead to issues like migration, school drop-out, child labour, trafficking, child abuse etc.
Emergency relief by Sabuj Sangha :
Sabuj Sangha being the most active and experienced NGO in this region (working since 1975) has immediately started its relief activities from the next day itself. Food grains, dry food, Tarpaulin sheets, emergency medicines were mobilized from Kolkata to the affected sites. Emergency relief wing was formed along with local Panchyats and Block Offices. Initially it was difficult to have access to the interior areas of the island villages, but subsequently those were reached. Six community kitchens were installed in different locations to cater to the needs of 3500 cyclone affected home less people. At present Sabuj Sangha is running 15 community kitchens in different locations in the two Blocks for food support to approximately 10000 people. Humanitarian organizations like NICE, AGNI have supported Sabuj Sangha to carryout their relief activities. Many other organizations have assured support and have encouraged Sabuj Sangha in their relief activities. Government bodies like Dept. of Health and Family Welfare and Dept. of Sunderban Affairs has partnered Sabuj Sangha to execute with their relief activities. Government functionaries are extending their support to Sabuj Sangha in terms of supplying relief materials for the cyclone affected people. Sunderban Development Board (GoWB) has already planned and started execution of de-watering through installation of pumps. Regional Health and Training Centre at Nandakumarpur and Outreach Medical Centre at Herambogopalpur of Sabuj Sangha, being within the catchments of these blocks, are working round the clock to render curative support to the affected people. Health Workers and Medical Team of Sabuj Sangha are serving the affected people on spot. Further consignments of medicines, food, tarpaulin sheet, bleaching powder etc have been mobilized by Sabuj Sangha from Kolkata. Government aids received have been effectively distributed among the beneficiaries.
Future scope of support to the cyclone affected people :
Planning for a long-term rehabilitation programme for the disaster affected people in this region is to be done immediately. Major emphasis should be given on reconstruction of houses (both by grant and community participation), livelihoods and preventive health care support. Sabuj Sangha is already actively working in these areas through its various programmes for upliftment of the downtrodden section. Temporary shelters made of tarpaulin sheets, bamboo logs, and food security for minimum six months is to be planned as immediate response for resettlement. Parallel planning is to be made for building of low cost disaster resistant houses with community participation and strengthening of livelihoods programme. Issues like migration, school-dropout, child labour and abuse, trafficking etc should be kept in close vigil.
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