Western aid agencies have called on the Bangladeshi government to urgently speed up work rebuilding hundreds of kilometres of coastal embankments, which were destroyed by a cyclone last May, BBC online reports Wednesday.
The agencies have warned that repairs must be done by the end of March, when high tides and storms are expected. They say that unless the work is completed, more than 200.000 homeless people will have to face another monsoon in appalling conditions.
This would be “inhuman and unacceptable on any grounds, and a serious issue of human and fundamental rights violation”, the group of 20 relief agencies working in south-west Bangladesh said in a news release. The group includes Oxfam, Care, Catholic Relief Services, Save the Children and Muslim Aid.
When Cyclone Aila crashed into Bangladesh, it destroyed more than 700 km of coastal embankments.
Sea water rushed through the gaps, flooding villages and fields.
The obvious solu-tion was to repair the embankments as soon as possible. Tenders for the work only went out in December. The government agency responsible for the repairs said it has been able to fix up to 450 km of embankments and is confident of completing the job in time.
