Background to the assessment
Heavy rainfalls as well as runoff from the upstream hills in India have led to early flooding of vast areas of croplands of haors and low-lying areas of northeast Bangladesh. Flooding started on 28th March and gradually affected six districts (Habiganj, Kishoreganj Moulavibazar, Netrokona, Sunamganj, and Sylhet). Rising water overflowed and breeched embankments in many places and inundated vast areas of cropland, damaging a significant number of houses and impacting the lives of more than 30% of the population of these six districts.
As agricultural land in this region remains under water for a large part of the year, there is only one cropping season in the haors and this early onset flooding destroyed the 2017 crop of Boro rice (the primary crop) at its blooming stage, 20-30 days before harvest. The daily Dhaka Tribune has estimated, based on Ministry of Agriculture’s calculation, that the country may lose around 800,000 MT of Boro rice this season. Standing water has been contaminated by rotten paddy and plant and a large number of fish and ducks have died, although the exact cause is, as yet, unknown. Distress selling of livestock as a negative coping mechanism has already been reported. This loss of the primary crop, together with the associated loss of income for agricultural labourers and the loss of fish, will create severe food insecurity on top of the high underlying poverty in the area unless assistance is received.
The Department of Disaster Management (DDM) requested this assessment which was supported by the Humanitarian Coordination Task Team (HCTT). As per HCTT’s request, the Needs Assessment Working Group (NAWG) developed a plan and presented at HCTT. With some revision the plan was adopted and a “Coordinated Needs Assessment (CNA)” was initiated under the leadership of DDM and functional coordination of CARE Bangladesh.
Key Findings: Summary
Overall impact
The haor areas of northeast Bangladesh are almost entirely single cropped areas with the majority of the communities dependent solely on the boro rice crop cultivated from October to May. Significantly heavier rainfall and runoff from India caused early flooding across more than half the haor area, destroying the rice crop, fodder and killing fish and ducks. It is estimated4 that 4,667,000 people in 450 Unions (out of 530) in 60 Upazilas (out of 62) have been affected (to varying degrees) in the six districts of Sunamganj, Sylhet, Netrokona, Kishoreganj, Habiganj, and Moulvibazar. With 65% of its population affected, Sunamganj district is worst hit followed by Netrkona (33%) and Sylhet (25%). Approximately 21% of the population is affected in the other districts.
Overall key priority needs
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The priority need identified by both men and women in all 27 locations was for immediate food assistance.
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Most of the communities assessed reported that almost all households in the affected areas have lost most or all their food stocks and have adopted negative coping strategies. Most have also lost a significant proportion of this season’s (i.e. this year’s) income. Negative coping strategies such as reducing food intake or selling livestock and poultry are being used. People are likely to be forced into more desperate coping strategies if alternative income or sustained assistance is not available.
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Feed for livestock and assistance with livelihoods support were the second priorities in almost all locations.
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In ten sites, inadequate sanitation facilities were reported as a priority. This was a key area where some difference could be noted between the male and female group responses. Women found sanitation to be more of a concern than men and this could be related to or lead to protection concerns.. Although the sample size was small, this is in line with other recent flooding events in Bangladesh.
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Access to safe drinking water was identified as a priority in five of the six sites in Sylhet, but not prioritised elsewhere, although it was highlighted as an issue in half the assessed sites overall.
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Health and hygiene promotion activities need to be enhanced, water purification tablets provided, and InterAgency Emergency Health kits prepositioned, to minimise, and respond to, the likely increase in communicable diseases usually associated with severe flooding and a breakdown in sanitation.
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In the areas where shelters/houses have been damaged, or are likely to degrade in the coming monsoon period, assistance in effecting repairs (cash or materials) is a priority need.
Key Sector Findings
Food Security, livelihood and Income
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Reduction in household income is the main impact for almost all the affected population.
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Reduction in incomes has already impacted food access. The main problems identified by communities were:
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Lack of food (cited as a problem in all 27 assessed sites),
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Lack of cooking fuel (in 25 sites)
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Poor quality of food (in 20 sites).
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DDM (11 May 2017) report that over 870,000 farmers have been affected, as have the 55% of the landless population who rely on seasonal labour (and would have been anticipating work during the upcoming harvest).
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The major challenges to the resumption of livelihoods were identified as lack of livelihood assets and financial resources, a lack of alternative income source and a lack of agricultural inputs.
Infrastructure -
Infrastructure repair (embankments and culverts and river dredging) was also identified as an area that would require external assistance.
Shelter
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DDM reported more than 28,000 houses to be (fully or partially) damaged across four districts (Sunamganj (68% of total), Moulvibazar (26%), Haobiganj (6%) and Sylhtet (0.07%).
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The CNA found reports to damage to housing in some areas, this appears to be localised to a few areas at this stage. As the monsoon sets in it is expected that significantly more houses will become uninhabitable.
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Overcrowded shelters offering insufficient privacy was the main problem identified by women.
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Despite the poor condition of some homes, displacement was not identified as an issue in the CNA.
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In a few sites, people reported having insufficient materials to make property repairs and in only one site was a lack of NFIs identified as a problem.
WASH
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Water and sanitation coverage in some of the haor areas of NE Bangladesh remain below the basic minimum level. The water and sanitation coverage in the four districts assessed (Netrokona, Kisorganj, Sylhet, Sunamganj) is below the Bangladesh average and all four districts are ‘low performing districts’ in that coverage is not effective or uniform for all people living in the district with pockets of extreme disadvantage.
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The floods have contaminated 24% of water points in Sunamganj, 18% in Sylhet, 16% in Kisoreganj, and 8% in Netrokona.
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In just over 50% of assessed sites, communities raised the issues of having insufficient water and poor quality of drinking water.
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In all except one ward communities said sanitation facilities were inadequate in terms of quality and, in the majority of sites, communities reported insufficient latrines or none at all.
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The low quality of ‘unimproved’ sanitation facilities and the absence of faecal sludge management gives rise to a potential risk of skin disease and diarrhoeal disease. Although the department of public health has provided water purification inputs the likelihood of water borne diseases remains.
Health
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Respondents from Sylhet (100%), Sunamganj (83%), Kishoreganj (67%) and Netrokona (58%) have expressed their observation as serious health problem due to the flash flood. Skin disease, snakebite and diarrhoea have been identified by the community groups as prevailing threats in different locations of the assessment area.
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Inter-Agency Emergency Health Kits (IEHK) are needed to be prepositioned to tackle the situation.
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Health promotion and disease surveillance activities need to be enhanced.
Nutrition
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42 CGDs (at 23 of the 27 sites) reported that health including nutrition is a serious problem.
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All women’s community group discussions reported that feeding/breast-feeding children under 2 years are a problem since the start of the flash flood.
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The dietary and eating practices of women/girls been impacted more since the disaster than that of men and boys.
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Pregnant and lactating women are not eating sufficient amounts of food.
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Health of children has worsened since the disaster.
Education
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School attendance has been impacted. Communities report that the main reasons children are not in school are:
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Parents want their children to work/help the family recover
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School is inaccessible
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Inability to pay fees
Gender-based Violence
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Physical assault was identified by community groups as the most common risk of violence confronting women and girls (23 groups out of 54), followed by debt-bondage (9 groups out of 54).
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Other identified risks of gender-based violence include desertion, sex trafficking, denial of resources and opportunities, and increase in early/forced marriage linked to financial distress following disasters.
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The observed absence of night lighting, unsafe access to bathing and latrine facilities, and limited accessibility to services may indicate a broader spectrum of safety and security risk in Sylhet division that was not captured by the assessment.
Communication
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Information needs are highest in Sunamganj
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Across all affected areas there is a particular need to provide information about how to access food; as well as guidance about financial support and livelihoods.
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60% of CGDs mentioned that no access to television was the main barrier of accessing information. People also mentioned no access to a newspaper (51%), no electricity (51%), no credit for a mobile phone (36%) and no access to radio (32%) as barriers of accessing information. The situation is different in different areas.