The Chief Adviser of the Interim Government has urged all non-governmental organizations to work together to deal with the dire flood situation in 11 districts of the North-Eastern and South-Eastern regions of the country. Muhammad Yunus. Especially after the flood water recedes, he ordered to distribute relief and rehabilitation work together instead of doing it separately.
Dr. sat in a meeting with representatives of several top non-governmental organizations (NGOs) of the country at 3:30 p.m. Yunus. The meeting lasted until 5:30 pm.
The meeting was organized to discuss what to do to deal with the ongoing flood situation, how to work when the water recedes.
After the meeting, Chief Adviser’s Press Secretary Shafiqul Alam highlighted various aspects of the meeting. On the other hand, BRAC Executive Director Asif Saleh spoke on behalf of NGOs.
Asif Saleh said that in the meeting, emphasis was placed on coordination of relief activities to deal with the ongoing flood situation. Many people are taking relief to flood affected areas, but not going to remote areas. There was discussion about regional division of labor while giving relief.
The BRAC official also said that post-flood rehabilitation will require a lot of funds. A representative of an NGO has given a preliminary idea that dealing with this situation may cost as much as 1000 crore rupees. Many of the expatriates are showing interest in sending money. A fund can be made with the money given by them. The Chief Adviser will hold a meeting with the Development Cooperation Agency regarding the funding. However, the amount of money needed after the flood is being worked on. Asif Saleh said that emphasis has been placed on power connection, mobile tower operation in the meeting.
Chief Adviser’s Press Secretary Shafiqul Alam told reporters that there has been an emphasis on NGOs working in a coordinated manner in flood-affected areas. The water has started coming down.
When asked about the reason for the meeting with the NGOs at this moment, Shafiqul Alam said that the NGOs have been working on the coast for a long time. They have experience in dealing with such disasters. This meeting has been called to get experience from them.
Flooding started on August 20 in the southern and northeastern parts of the country. The death toll in the floods so far stands at 18. The number of affected people is around 50 lakh. About 9.5 million people are trapped in water. Shafiqul Alam said that today’s meeting discussed the outline of all parties working together to deal with health and food risk after the flood water receded.
Debapriya Bhattacharya, special fellow of Center for Policy Dialogue (CPD), a non-governmental research organization, was also present in the meeting. When asked what was discussed in the meeting, he told Prothom Alo, ‘There was a discussion on how to work in the future by learning from the ongoing floods. Apart from this, relief is going somewhere in the flood-affected areas, and not going anywhere. In order to ensure that relief goes everywhere, it is urged to form a committee among NGOs.
