As the death toll rises and the government rejects foreign aid, Fr Arturo Speziale, PIME, writes from Manikgonj describing the pain local residents are going through, their extreme need for food, and also their fear of losing income during the rainy season. At the end, readers can find out how they can help.

Dhaka (AsiaNews) – The situation in Bangladesh is critical; some 40 per cent of the country is under water as do so many people. Most have seen their simple dwellings destroyed but some of the luckier ones have been able to build makeshift platforms in what is left of them so in order to shelter waiting for the waters to recede. Many other people are instead camped along roads without any hope of earning a living for the next month. During all this the country’s caretaker government has announced that it will not ask for international assistance. Across the affected areas in South Asia, especially in India, the death toll has reached so far 1,900.

In Manikgonj district near Dhaka, PIME missionary Fr Arturo Speziale is coordinating aid distribution for some of the half a million local people displaced by the flood waters. But he took time to inform AsiaNews about his work and the needs of the people he is helping.

“Water dropped by seven centimetres (three inches) over the past two days,” he wrote in a letter, “but no one expects things to get any better before September 10. Rain has not stopped yet. Torrential downpour in Bihar, in India, will raise the level of the rivers here as well. Plus, even if water levels dropped, about 70 per cent of the people affected would end up living in unhygienic conditions that would facilitate the spread of illnesses and fever like dysentery and paratyphus. There will be complications to respiratory tracts after the floods because huts will remain damp for a long time.”

Still Father Speziale said that despite the crisis the population “continues to suffer with exceptional dignity and some are even able to smile despite their tragedy.”

The missionary has able to bring aid to about 200 families “of all faiths” so far, but the amount remains inadequate.

“We raised some offerings from faithful in Dhaka and will shortly deliver another 140 rice bags and other food. But for my people who have had to endure the flooding, especially those with children in our schools, and for those who don’t have a hut in higher elevations, the greatest hardship is the lack of food, followed by the crude shelter they are forced to live in at present,” he said. “The rising waters wiped out or seriously damaged the huts made from weaved reeds; what is left will rot very soon. And a third problem is the loss of earnings during the flood.”

The clergyman explained that “most people living in remote and underdeveloped villages are daily labourers: they fish when they are lucky and work in someone else’s fields when it is time to seed or harvest. But daily wages are very low because there are so many people out of work that they can’t save and have nest egg for hard times.”

For this reason, Father Speziale is launching an appeal on behalf of them. “We need food and help to rebuild,” he pleaded.

Please, send donations to:

Standard Chartered BankFr. Arturo SpezialeA/C No. 01-2639998-01Swift Code & ID   SCBLBDDXXXX

or

ccp PIMEdit in Milan: No. 39208202 Via Mosè Bianchi, 94 20149 Milan  Italy

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