One month after cyclone Aila struck Bangladesh and the eastern Indian state of West Bengal, people continue to suffer from ongoing floods during high tide. Bangladesh, 2009.
Photo by Veronique Terrasse/MSF

June 17: Mud, water and more mud

Yesterday our boats arrived in [the capital of West Bengal] Kolkata (formerly Calcutta); so today we went with the two zodiacs (inflatable boats) to Dhamakali. I ended up in the river with my team, including nine Indians, six of whom cannot swim. It’s our first explo to see what’s needed here. We arrived at Goramari, where we had to fight with loads and loads of mud, sticks and water before we finally ended up on a dike (meaning more mud). Behind the dike there was more water. On the dike we were surrounded by people who were sharing a shelter – made from a wooden stick with some grass and plastic – with their cattle. Immediately they came with a bucket of yellow smelly water from the hand pump to wash our feet. We washed our feet with their drinking water and found out that the dike was about the only thing remaining of their village.

June 19: A mother

After a long, slippery walk and another boat ride, we finally ended up visiting a couple of houses and a school with six families and their chicken. During the boat ride a mother told us that she was in her house with her three children during the cyclone. Water came in her house from everywhere and she lost all her cutlery, pots, pans and clothes. When we asked her if there were many deaths because of Cyclone Aila, she told me that at one point a dead body came drifting into her house... Now she’s living on a dike with her children. A month later, the house is still flooded and they cannot start reconstructing it. This will last for the coming months because the water level will probably rise again with the monsoon starting soon… Every evening when we come back to the hotel I am so happy to wash all the mud off my legs, arms and face… And all those people have been living in these conditions for more than a month now!

June 22: Coupon distribution

MSF usually looks for the most vulnerable people who have received less help than others, and communities that have a higher chance of disease outbreak because of crowded or unhygienic living conditions. In Goramari, it’s not hard to identify cyclone affected people. At least 80 percent of the people in the villages we visited lost their house and around 50 percent of them have not been able to rebuild it because their houses still flood every time the tide rises.

During a previous visit, we identified more than 700 families in three villages MSF will distribute non-food items to. Today we went over to Goramari again, where all 700 families were waiting for us. We had already received a list with names of the heads of all families and we went through the list so everybody could come forward and receive a (home-made) coupon. After two hours of screaming names, the trouble started… The village leader (who provided us with the list) was a very friendly old man. Some people who were not on the list became angry with the old man and he just sat there, not knowing what to do… I felt so sorry for him and we tried to calm people down, saying that we would talk with the old man to see what the problem was.

A tough lady told us this list was not complete yet, since they gave the original away to the government for distribution of food and water. In the end, the problem was solved… Wondering what’s going to happen tomorrow when we start handing out the relief goods. Off to bed now. We need to start at 0430 h tomorrow and I am not a morning person!

June 23: My first non-food item distribution

Okay, this was so cool! The distribution went very well; no problems at all, which was mainly due to the thorough preparation of the team. I arrived with the fishing boat containing 725 non-food item kits (the boat was nice and slow, so I was able to have a nap); the four people who arrived an hour before set up the whole distribution place. Even though we told the community we would start at 1300 h, everybody was there at 1000 h (not a big surprise though). They were being entertained by our personal ‘entertaining team’ of two health educators, who were showing the people how to use the items in the kit and did hygiene promotion. Very important here!

We started distributing non-food items and all went really quick. I have to admit I was pretty touched by this whole event. Women started to hug me, smiled, tried to say thank you in their own way. It is unbelievable how happy people can be with a piece of plastic sheeting, some soap, purification tablets, blankets and jerry cans. Bring on the next 1,700 packs!

June 25: Too late

Every one is tired. The most difficult part of this intervention is the access to the area. Walking through mud is not really helpful or relaxing. After last night’s speech that I would appreciate it if the team were in the cars on time, I woke up 15 minutes after we should have left! I am very happy the team has a good sense of humour.

June 27: Fishing boats

Both of our boats are leaking. Not very funny for the people who can’t swim. We ended up in fishing boats today.

June 29: Toilet

Today it really was survival of the fittest! First of all, we did an explo in a village on one of the most slippery dikes I have ever been on. I needed support from two villagers to keep me going instead of crashing. The easy parts to walk on are the parts where you sink in the mud up to your ankle, so I tried to go for those parts. Until some kind of vicious ant bit me so hard that my toe is still red and itchy. We continued sliding through the villages until I realised I had drank too much water for a trip like this. In my perfect Bengali (using hands and feet), I found a lady who very discretely showed me where to go. I ended up in a house and went through the backdoor to a ‘field’. She said something in Bengali and there I was, all alone and without shoes, in the smelliest swamp I have ever seen. This village clearly has a problem with toilets. All I could think of was my tetanus injection, anti-worm tablets and a shower. The need was so big that I ran back to the friendly lady who then led me to the ‘village latrine’, which contained a grass wall coming to my knees. Now I understand why women wear dresses here! Anyway, I tried my best to be discreet, but could not prevent the whole village from watching the white lady giving the good example of not using standing water and fields as toilets. Conclusion: this village has a serious hygiene problem! (And don’t drink too much water before going into these areas!)