On either side of the road from Shaudhkhali village to the Bogi forest range in coastal Sharankhola sub-district, the landscape is littered with thousands of shacks covered with blue polythene sheets, and graves in clusters of two, five or 10.
These are reminders of Cyclone Sidr, which struck the area on 15 November 2007 - triggering a 5m surge that killed more than 4,000 people and wrecked nearly 1.5 million homes.
Shaudhkhali, on the banks of Baleshwar River, was flattened. About 6,500 homes were levelled, affecting some 30,000 people. More than 400 people died in the village alone. During the day, the polythene turns the shacks into virtual infernos at 40 degrees, while at night the wind off the sea turns bitterly cold.
For more than six months people here have been living in these makeshift shanties, awaiting outside help.
"People from the towns come and assure us that our houses will be rebuilt. There are plenty of promises, but not much work," said Tajul Islam Mondol, a 50-year-old fisherman who now works as a day labourer in the neighbouring paddy fields. He lost his boat and nets in the storm.
"These fragile shelters will not be able to protect us from the rains and winds of the monsoons. Those who own cows, goats and chickens will face an even worse situation," added Rizia Begum, 50, who lost five members of her family.
"With only weeks to go before the start of the monsoon rains, hundreds of thousands of families are still living under plastic sheeting, tarpaulins and other basic shelters, which leave them at the mercy of the elements," the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said recently.
"The combined efforts of all aid agencies as well as bilateral government pledges for core housing are likely to reach around 60,000 affected families. But this is only a fraction of those who need help," noted Graham Saunders, shelter head for the IFRC.
Villagers complained that relief supplies by NGOs had dwindled over recent months. "In the first few months following the cyclone, each family got 30kg of rice as well as other food items per month, but last month the quantity of rice was halved to 15kg," said Sonali Banu, 35, of North Southkhali village.
Monsoon warning
Officials in the Shelter Working Group (SWG), a body of some 200 donor and relief organisations, including the government, UN and NGOs, said only a quarter of the required rehabilitation had been completed over the past six months.
 Photo: Shamsuddin Ahmed/IRIN  |
| Two women building a sanitary latrine in Southkhali, one of four union councils along Bangladesh's coast badly affected by Cyclone Sidr |
While Saudi Arabia and India had assured Bangladesh of assistance in rebuilding 22,800 and 1,600 households respectively in the Sidr-ravaged areas, the work has yet to begin.
Shahidul Islam, District Administrator of Bagerhat, said Saudi Arabia would build 4,000 houses in Southkhali Union for which he had received close to US$600,000.
"The present situation does not give any indication that the rehabilitation will be completed before the monsoon. That means the suffering of the homeless will only deepen," warned Ashok Adhikari, a disaster monitoring specialist for UNDP.
The monsoon sets in during the first half of June and continues until October.
Donors worried
"More than 260,000 extremely vulnerable families are not getting any assistance to rebuild their homes. Assessments indicate that these families have very limited means for their survival and there are simply insufficient programmes in the pipeline to help them," said the IFRC's Saunders.
"Most people have to rebuild their houses using their own resources, as well as depending on that money to buy food. They are going to be thinking about what they need today, rather than longer-term," he said.
 Photo: Shamsuddin Ahmed/IRIN |
| Thousands of cyclone survivors continue to suffer from an acute shortage of safe drinking water |
Care country director Nick Southern said: "Without a roof over their heads people are also exposed to serious health and hygiene risks. The situation is deeply worrying."
Furthermore, said Heather Blackwell, head of Oxfam in Bangladesh: "Some of the current building techniques are outright dangerous and could cause injuries once the winds and rains arrive. We need to make sure that people are aware of simple and practical techniques that make their homes more resistant to storms, floods and cyclones."
Bangladesh is one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world. In 2007, two devastating floods, in July and September, inundated 46 of the country's 64 districts, affecting 15 million people and damaging standing crops on tens of thousands of hectares of land.
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This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions