Chief Adviser to the interim government Professor Dr
Muhammad Yunus on Saturday (August 24) urged the country's people to come
forward to addressing the ongoing devastating flood.
"With the initiatives and encouragement of the youth, the country's people
should jump into addressing the flood together. We must tackle the flood
unitedly," he said after a meeting with the representatives of
non-government organisations (NGOs) at state guest house Jamuna here.
Briefing
reporters in front of the Jamuna, chief adviser's press secretary Shafiqul Alam
said Prof Yunus was surprised seeing that people from all works of life have
come forward to help the flood victims.
"The
way the people of Bangladesh showed their spirit during the student-people
movement, they are coming up showing the same spontaneity in addressing the
flood," he said quoted the chief adviser as saying.
He
said about 44 NGOs were invited to join the meeting and a fruitful and cordial meeting was held on Saturday.
During
the meeting, Prof Yunus asked the NGOs to conduct relief distribution and flood
mitigation programmes in a coordinated way, the press secretary said.
He
said many people have already lost their houses, while all belongs, including
utensils, of many were washed away.
"The floodwater has started receding. After the flood, water-borne
diseases and health related issues emerge. During the meeting, they discussed
how these issues can be addressed," Alam said.
About
relief programme, he said people are collecting relief at village level and Friday (August 23) students collected a huge amount of relief at TSC of Dhaka
University, which was a remarkable scene.
On
communication, he said, the government continues coordination with army and
mobile phone companies to reconnect communication system at flood-hit areas.
"We
are trying to make mobile towers operational by sending diesel oil there and
resume power connectivity as soon as possible. If electricity connection
resumes, mobile phone service will be operational. And once mobile network
resumes, people living in flood-affected areas will be able to set up a direct
communication with diaspora...relief and rehabilitation have already
started," Alam said.
Replying to a question, he said Prof Yunus said NGOs are the strength of
Bangladesh and "We must implement the dream the youth have shown us. And
we can do it".
The Press Secretary said the chief adviser mentioned that
NGOs always play a vital role in addressing flood in Bangladesh.
Adviser
Ali Imam Majumder, SDG Coordinator Lamiya Morshed, prominent economist Dr
Debapriya Bhattacharya, Rasheda K Chowdhury, ActionAid Bangladesh Executive
Director Farah Kabir and BRAC Executive Director Asif Saleh, among others, were
present at the meeting.
Talking
to reporters after the meeting, BRAC Executive Director Asif Saleh said there
is a need for international funds mobilisation to deal with the flood
situation.
Saleh
said both small and big NGOs were invited on Saturday and they shared their
ideas so that the ongoing flood could be addressed in a coordinated way.
"As
we are working at field level, what should be the priority (in tackling flood)
was discussed," he said, adding they welcomed the joint initiative of
public and private sector to work together.
He called for maintaining coordination at national and local levels in dealing
with the flood.
Observing
that reaching out relief to hard-to-reach areas is a very challenging task, the
BRAC executive director suggested distribution of relief by dividing the
flood-hit areas into different zones so that relief can be distributed in a
more coordinated way.
The
chief adviser, he said, asked the NGOs to pave a way so that the government and
NGOs can mobilise fund together in addressing the flood situation.
They
(NGOs) also suggested taking a joint response plan in mobalising fund from
international donors, he said.
"We
are planning together so that health issues could be addressed after the
floodwater recedes," Saleh said.
He
sought cooperation from international community and Bangladeshi expatriates in
raising fund for the flood victims.
"International
fund mobilisation is a must...a rough estimate of a NGO shows that we require
Taka 1,000 crore to address the flood...we have started a need assessment and
we have scopes to maintain coordination in carrying out the need
assessment," Saleh said.