Oxfam Complements Government Relief Measures to Reach out to 5 Million People Displaced by Cyclone Aila

Jyotsna Dinda in front of her house, destroyed by the cyclone Aila; Village Sitarampur, Sunderbans, West Bengal. Photo Oxfam India

OXFAM COMPLEMENTS GOVERNMENT RELIEF MEASURES TO REACH OUT TO 5 MILLION PEOPLE DISPLACED BY CYCLONE AILA - ``People not getting adequate food, water and sanitation facilities,'' reveals Oxfam India assessment report

New Delhi, June 1. Oxfam, a leading humanitarian relief and development agency, has started distributing relief material to about 10,000 cyclone affected families in the 24 South Paragnas district of West Bengal following an assessment by its team that the Government machinery needs to be immediately and urgently complimented with relief supply .

``Though the Government of West Bengal has been very proactive in responding to the cyclone Aila by carrying out immediate search and rescue work, the relief operations are not sufficient to meet the needs of the affected people. People in many villages have complained that they are not getting sufficient amount of food, safe drinking water and adequate shelter. We have therefore decided to reach out to as many affected people as possible in the relief camps,'' says Nisha Agrawal, CEO, Oxfam India.

An Oxfam India assessment report carried out in South Paragnas district reveals that people who are staying in the camps have not yet received aid in adequate quantities though the government has started sending Chura (flattened rice) and jiggery to the villages. People who are staying in their own houses, do have stock of food grains but face the crisis of fuel wood. There is no availability of safe drinking water and adequate sanitation and hygiene cover does not exist threatening the existence of people in relief camps.

``We were one of the first humanitarian development agencies to carry out a rapid assessment in two blocks of the South Paragnas district. Following the assessment, we have now decided to supplement the relief measures already initiated by the Government and other development agencies in Namkhana and Patharprathima blocks of the district. We will be providing safe drinking water and adequate sanitation cover for both men and women,'' says Nisha.

Initially, the Oxfam India relief measures will benefit 10,000 households and the idea is to reach 10,000 more households in the coming days and weeks with the support of the people of India and the corporates. An Oxfam India assessment team which toured the affected districts immediately after the cyclone found that people from all the villages are not in the camps as there are some villages which are low lying and are still under deep water. People from these villages have taken shelter in schools and panchayat bhawans. Many families who have lost their houses have taken shelter in their neighborhood.