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| Floods 2004 |
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Authorities yesterday deployed army to save Dhaka-Narayanganj-Demra (DND) dam that has become vulnerable to rushing floodwaters, threatening to maroon more than one million people. Deputy Commissioner of Narayanganj Harun Ur Rashid asked the government yesterday to deploy army at the dam and also at Dhaka Narsingdi Dam Project (DNDP). "Both dams are now vulnerable due to the continuous pressure of water and people inside the dams are in panic. Water is gushing in through many points of the dams and the government deployed army to save them," Harun said. The Roads and Highways Department has been putting sandbags along the embankment from Dellah to Kajla, stretching more than three kilometres, as the water level has almost reached the top of the DND dam. Textile, paper, re-rolling, garment and steel mills outside the DND dam have gone under water. Affected people of the eastern areas on the outskirts of the city including Manda, Dharmikpara, Mallikpara, Shukna Tengra, Mendipur, Amulia and Sharulia have taken refuge in several schools inside the DND embankment. People are throwing up makeshift houses beside the dam and herding their cattle in them, as the water is rising every day. Officials at the Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre said more areas in the capital risk inundation as water from the northern part, the worst flood-hit area, is rushing towards the central part. About a third of Dhaka City is under water as the country's most severe floods in recent memory took a turn for the worse. Many streets are under waist-deep water where boats have replaced rickshaws as the primary mode of transport. Thousands of families from the capital and areas on its fringe crammed into overcrowded temporary flood shelters where authorities are distributing limited supplies of food and drinking water. Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) yesterday estimated some two lakh displaced people have taken refuge in 209 shelter centres in its 55 affected wards out of the 90 and thousands more were expected to join them. Volunteers have been distributing cooked food and drinking water in the shelters but supplies were inadequate, according to the flood victims. The floods have inundated large parts of the capital city of 10 million people, forcing thousands of residents to take boats to go to their places of work. There are too many people jostling to board just a few boats plying on the flooded roads. The city's sewer system has broken down and lanes and by-lanes in different areas including posh residential areas are floating on stinky sewage. "The water is rising every day and we are afraid sewer water will enter our house soon," said Shakhawat Hossain, an NGO activists living in capital's Kanthalbagan area. Water with heavy sewage has partially inundated Kanthalbagan but many areas like Bashabo, Goran, Mothertek, Gopibagh, Hazaribagh, Banani, Gulshan and Motijheel commercial district are reeling under sewage. Normal life has been thrown completely out of gear and disease and starvation loomed for many of the city's residents. Diarrhoea has broken out in the city as people have been forced to drink contaminated water. Nearly 1,000 patients were being treated in Dhaka's Cholera (International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh) hospital yesterday.
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