By Abdul Gani, Twocircles.net,
Guwahati: Even after the killing waves of flood seem to have ceased, the ever-lasting troubles are there to haunt the ill fated people of Assam. It’s tough time for the victims to start their rehabilitation process to get to normalcy.
Medicines are being carried to the villages.
Besides other problems, spread of waterborne diseases appears to have become a major hurdle for the people in affected areas.
“This is life and we have been like this for ages. We have lost our properties and lands in flood and erosion and now, I’m worried for my children. One of my kids is ill after the flood,” said Habibur Rahman of Goroimari area in Kamrup district.
Doctors attending the patients at Goroimari village
If these villagers are to be believed the assistance from the state government and the district administration is practically little.
“Initially we had got some relief materials but once the flood is over, nobody is here to ask about us. But we need some sort of support to get normalcy after the calamity,” Rahman added. The district administration, however, is not ready to accept the reality.
But thanks to a few youths who have tried to bring smiles on these ill fated victims by donning their helping hands, with financial help primarily coming from Indian origin expatriates.
Jhai Foundation did not just provide immediate relief but has also organised medial camps in some of the villages to help them get to normalcy. A team of 15 members of Jhai Foundation has been conducting the medical camps. So far they have organized four such medical camps at Mahabari Pathar, Das Para, Barakhat and Uzan Dhuramari Char villages under Goroimari Revenue Circle of Kamrup district.
“We have attended to more than 500 people at Goroimri itself. The people are suffering from number of diseases. Fungal skin infection, bacterial skin infecting, diarrhea, repertory problems, viral fever and many others,” Dr Emdad Hussain, an attending doctor told TwoCircles.net.
Starting from water related diseases to skin disease, there is no dearth of illness among these people. Dr Hussain also said that several diseases have developed as the large number of people live in a congested area.
“The contagious diseases are common in such situations. We are hopeful that we can help these people to get rid of it,” he added.
Popular musician Zubeen Garg collecting funds for flood victims in Guwahati.
The doctors attending to the victims have also found rise of joint pains and back pains among the victims. They said that due to the emergency the villagers have to work more like carrying their belongings to safer places which results their pains.
More than 40 people have lost their lives in this spell of flood in Assam that has affected more than 10 lakh people across the state.
Abdul Kalam Azad, one of the founders of Jhai foundation, said that they are targeting around 3000 flood victims to cover at the first round of this health camp initiative.
The financial support for the health camp was provided by US based Indian Muslim Relief and Charities (IMRC) in collaboration with their Hyderabad based sister organisation Sahayata Trust.
“We are grateful to IMRC for their assistance in facilitating our efforts in reaching out to the victims and helping them out. The members of panchyat have also been quite helpful so far,” said Kalam.
With the help of IMRC-Sahayata Trust, they plan to put up at least 10 such health camps and awareness sessions in the remote char areas of Goroimari Revenue Circle.
They have also organized awareness camps on sanitation and cleanliness. “We have engaged some people to sensitize the people on cleanliness after the health camps. We hope these will work for them,” Kalam added.
Besides, they have also distributed deep tube wells among the villagers.
Meanwhile, some of the artistes of the state led by popular musician Zubeen Garg have started to raise funds for the flood victims across the state.
“We are doing our part to raise some funds for our people. So far people have been generous to help us in our mission,” said Zubeen who has visited government offices and other places to gather funds. They have also organized a charity soccer match on September 29 to raise more funds.