Shelters too poor to give shelter to cyclone victims
With only pillars and the roof, most of 550 such structures constructed with finance from Climate Trust Fund in Patuakhali district, remain virtually useless as the beneficiaries -- the victims of super cyclones Sidr and Aila in 2007 and 2009, are too poor to complete them into dwellings. The photo was taken from Mehendiabad village in Mirzaganj upazila of Patuakhali district.Photo: STAR
Most of the 550 houses built for the victims of cyclones Sidr and Aila in the district have become uninhabitable due to faulty design. It happened as the authorities, in a hurry to rehabilitate the homeless victims, handed over the one-room shelters without doors, windows and the walls. Most of the poor families never had the financial ability to install the missing components of the houses built with Tk 6.60 crore from the Climate Trust Fund under the disaster management ministry in 2010- 2011. Sources at the disaster management office here said that each of the 15 feet by 10 feet shelter with a concrete roof on four pillars was built at a cost of Tk 1.20 lakh. They said the beneficiaries are so poor that these houses have become burdens for them. Zayeda Begum, 35, wife of Sultan Mia of Mehendiabad village under Mirzagonj upazila said she received the so-called house but could never use it. “We tried to live under the roof but failed because it lacks the very basic things of an abode. So, we are still living in a rickety shack on the flood control dam with my family of five,” Zayeda said. “My husband is a day labourer while my elder son Zahidul, 15, is working to help the others continue with their studies, we cannot afford to build the four walls and install windows and doors of the structure,” she added. Minara Begum, 25, wife of Sarwar Hossain Mridha, from the same area said that Cyclone Sidr took 'everything' they had. Still they could not live under such structure. Contacted, Abdus Salam Mridha, chairman for Dewlisubidkhali union under Mirzagonj said nobody consulted with the people before building the houses and so costly project has become a total failure. “The very design of the houses was wrong,” said Mridha. “How could you approve a housing project for the extreme poor without ensuring basic components of the structure”, he posed. District Relief and Rehabilitation Officer Anwar Hossain said that the shelters were given to the poor people as they had lost their houses in the cyclones. The design was specified by the ministry and they executed it accordingly. “I admit that most of the beneficiaries have no ability to build walls and other components to make them fit for living,” he said.
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