Diplomatic Correspondent //

More than 2 million children in eastern Bangladesh are now at risk due to ongoing floods. 5.6 lakh people have been affected by this worst flood in the eastern part of the country in the last 34 years.

UNICEF said this information in a press release on Friday. According to the notification, the main rivers in the southeastern part of the country are overflowing due to unprecedented heavy monsoon rains. As a result of which 52 deaths have been reported so far. More than five lakh people of Chittagong and Sylhet divisions are looking for a little shelter. Houses, roads, fields and fields were submerged in the flood water. Millions of children and their families are stuck in water.

They don’t have any food or any essential relief items. Government officials and volunteers are continuing rescue operations but reaching some areas has proved difficult. There are fears that more people may be affected in the coming days as the monsoon rains continue. UNICEF has appealed for US$35 million to provide life-saving relief supplies to the thousands of people and children trapped in water.

UNICEF Deputy Representative in Bangladesh Emma Brigha said, many children have lost their loved ones, lost their homes and schools, they are in a very helpless situation. Since its inception, UNICEF has been actively providing emergency supplies including water purification tablets and oral saline. But more funding is needed to reach all children and prevent the devastating impact of this ongoing crisis on children’s futures.

Since the onset of the disaster, UNICEF has been working in the affected areas. UNICEF along with the advisor of the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives Hasan Arif carried out the initial verification phase. Together with partners, UNICEF has reached more than 338,000 people, including 130,000 children. Among these people, they distributed various life-saving materials such as: 3.6 million water purification tablets, 25,000 jerry-cans for water retention and more than 250,000 bags of oral rehydration salts (oral saline). But much more needs to be done beyond these.

Disaster-affected people and children urgently need cash assistance, safe drinking water, hygiene kits (hygiene kits), emergency latrines, sanitary pads, oral rehydration salts (oral saline) and emergency life-saving drugs. Primary health care to treat sick newborns and children and essential services to enable pregnant mothers to safely deliver their babies need to be put in place immediately.

Disasters such as the recent floods in Bangladesh, floods in the northern part of the country and Cyclone Remal in May have all come very close. In all, more than 1.3 million people including 5 million children have been affected due to the three emergency situations in Bangladesh.

UNICEF needs USD 35.3 million to carry out emergency life-saving and multi-sectoral activities for affected children, pregnant women as part of the immediate response program to deal with these three emergencies.

Climate change has increased the number, intensity and uncertainty of cyclones, floods and other extreme weather events that have also affected Bangladesh. For this reason, the climate crisis is fundamentally referred to as a child rights crisis. According to UNICEF’s Children’s Climate Risk Index, children in Bangladesh are among the most vulnerable to climate and environmental risks in the world.

Emma Brigha said that the lives of millions of children in Bangladesh are being disrupted by floods, heatwaves and cyclones year after year. Climate change is definitely changing the lives of children. Before it’s too late, we call on global leaders to act urgently for children and take concrete steps to mitigate the impacts of climate change on their lives.