Newsroom

A community housing project in Bangladesh's South-western district of Bagerhat (UNDP Bangladesh)

Rizia Begum, a widow in her late sixties, tells of her situation six months after the Cyclone Sidr hit the coast of Bangladesh in November 2007.

“Somehow, I survived the cyclone, but this time I’m afraid of I might not survive the coming monsoon,” she said.

Rizia lives in the South-western district of Bagerhat. Like her, about three hundred thousand families in the country’s 12 coastal districts ravaged by the cyclone Sidr are still living in temporary shelters like tents and polythene huts.

Many of the survivors have been living under the open sky for the past six months. Since the Monsoon season is about to start, many are afraid the huts and tents which they have built themselves will not be strong enough to protect them from the rain.

“What is urgently needed is shelter,” said Rizia, adding that “last night’s rain drenched everything I owned. I was forced to keep my belongings, including cattle, inside the temporary hut.”

Officials in the Shelter Working Group, a conglomerate of around 200 organizations, including government, NGOs, UN agencies and civil society groups, say only a quarter of the required rehabilitation has been completed in last six months.

According to government data, over 564,000 houses have been destroyed and 957,000 houses partially damaged.

UNDP has helped to repair about 25,000 houses in cyclone-affected areas

The Working Group has ben urging the donor community and the government of Bangladesh to help provide a safe house for all affected families before the start of the monsoon.

UNDP has helped to repair about 25,000 houses in Sidr-affected area. The organization has also promised to build 77,428 houses in cyclone-affected areas in collaboration with 24 other development organizations. Of the total, UNDP will be building 10,145 houses by itself.

Cyclone Sidr ripped through the 30 southern and coastal districts of the country on 15 November, 2007, killing about 4000 people and demolishing thousands of houses in addition to about one million acres of crops.