Of the families who lost their homes to cyclones, floods and river erosion and took refuge in the slums of Satkhira town, 74.9 percent face severe food insecurity, yet only 7.5 percent are covered by government social safety net programmes, according to 'Displaced, Denied', a study by the food security network Khani Bangladesh and the Participatory Research and Action Network (PRAAN).
Umme Salma, programme coordinator at PRAAN, presented the findings at a multi-stakeholder dialogue in Satkhira on Wednesday (14 October), International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction. The study covered 1,341 members of 358 families in 35 settlements of the municipality. About 7,573 families live in the municipality's 47 informal settlements, many of them displaced from Shyamnagar, Assasuni and other areas.
In 95.5 percent of surveyed families at least one member had eaten less or skipped a meal, and in 52.2 percent someone had gone a whole day without food. To get food, 57.3 percent had sold productive assets or essential household goods. Some 96.9 percent depend on shallow tube wells whose water is partly or wholly saline and iron-laden, and half the families had waterborne illness in the past month.
Of families living on government land, 59 percent have been evicted or face eviction. In the past 12 months 79.1 percent received no government or private help, and 92.7 percent do not know where to lodge a complaint. Among children aged 6 to 18, 33.2 percent are not enrolled in school, and 30 percent of those are in child labour. Displaced residents said most men drive vans, earning about Tk 200 a day, which is not enough to run a household.
Speakers said food insecurity after displacement reflects a preventable failure of disaster management and called for an up-to-date database of slum residents to link them to jobs, training and social protection. Satkhira Sadar upazila nirbahi officer Arnab Datta said those not yet receiving old-age or widow allowances would be brought under them if lists were provided, and that genuinely landless people outside the municipality could be considered for agricultural khas land under government policy if they apply.
Source: Channel i Online
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