The devastating Super Cyclone Amphan has destroyed the entire Sunderbans region on the Indian part. More than 60,000 houses have been fully demolished. The islands have been submerged under saline waters and people are staying under the open sky, dealing with the scarcity of food & drinking water.
Is it a super cyclone or a man-made cyclone, a super cyclone caused by environmental change but a man-made cyclone? Alas unable to break the vicious cycle – it also visited Paschim Ghani, Tia Mari, and Madhya Ghani, Khanpukur under Hasnabad block.
A population of 500 families is completely stuck in their homes as the area has become an island cut off from the main land. We had to take a boat to reach out to these families. Without food, electricity, and strong winds blowing throughout the day they are struggling to survive with young babies.
One of the NGOs, Katakhali Swapnopuron Welfare Society were carrying dry ration as chiwda, muri, biscuits. They came simply running to take them. Little ones came running to take the biscuit packets, starved they looked around, tired with no hope. A few elderly ladies were in tears narrating their condition.
At night with no electricity and pitch dark just living on the river banks makes their lives as vulnerable as exposed to all kind of risks as snake bites and Children are under so much threat. Words fall short to express their grief and pain. In this heat, they have just a 250 ml packet to quench their thirst.
Hingalganj was much affected by Amphan with 148 river dams washed away and out of which 28 to 30 are in a precarious situation. Rupomari and Bishpur two Panchayats under Hingalganj which are still in a vulnerable situation. We got the opportunity to serve a larger number as the administration called our team, Ramakrishna Mission and Bharat Sevashram Sangha as the only organizations to start distributing cooked food.
Several organizations, groups, and individuals have been providing relief support to the affected families and it is of immense help for them. One another important initiative by Ramakrishna Mission, Bharat Sevashram Sangha, and Katakhali Swapnopuron Welfare Society include operating community kitchens. Each of the kitchens is feeding more than 1500 families twice a day.
The people in these islands are so helpless that they are keeping their utensils in the queue at the distribution point from early morning to get the cooked meal. Each island is being served with 2000 liters of drinking water every day by these organizations.
The situation in the remote islands of Halda, Berar Chak, Rupomari, Swiss Gate, and other neighboring islands have been totally disconnected from the mainland, owing to waterlogging. Relief support from the government together with these three supporting organizations has been really helpful for the people.