Cyclone Aila

Cyclone Aila hit the Bangladesh / India border on Monday 25 May causing widespread destruction. Millions are thought to have been affected.

The situation

Cyclone Aila has caused substantial damage across areas of southern Bangladesh and West Bengal. Much of the damage was caused by massive flooding, which has contaminated drinking water sources with seawater and killed the fish that people rear in the freshwater ponds. This will affect people's livelihoods in the long run. As Zubin Zaman, Oxfam India's Programme Manager, pointed out, "the ponds are a lifeline - they give people drinking water, water to irrigate, and fish". Most latrines have been washed away, and there is serious pollution from sewage and dead animals. The threat of water-borne epidemics is very high, including cholera, which is endemic throughout this area. Hundreds of thousands of people are homeless, clustered into municipal buildings and schools, or are camping outside on higher ground.

Oxfam's response

In both countries we will be providing temporary shelters (plastic sheeting, rope, bamboo poles), safe sanitation, environmental clean-up campaigns (paying and mobilising teams of people), and distributing essential hygiene items (jerry cans, buckets, anti-bacterial soap, sanitary cloths, oral rehydration). We already have two water treatment plants in Bangladesh which can produce 3,000 litres of safe drinking water per hour (at 15 litres each this would serve 200 people every hour). In both countries we will start emptying and cleaning out contaminated ponds, and raising tube-wells above water levels.