Soon after the fire, governmental and non-governmental organisations came forward to help the survivors with clothes and food, but such relief attempts were temporary. The slum dwellers are left to fight their battles on their own.

Water supplies in the slum area remain snapped since the fire broke out on March 4, as Wasa (Water and Sewerage Authority) did not repair the damaged water pipes.

The slum people buy water at Tk 1 a pitcher from six points. "I need around 10 pitchers of water every day and it is going on," Samsun Nahar said.

Some slum dwellers took an initiative to bring water into the slum from surrounding areas through plastic pipes. People wait in line with their pitchers and buckets in hand, but the supply is not continuous.

The Coalition for the Urban Poor along with Radda, Bangladesh Women's Health Coalition and Dusthya Swasthya Kendra provided medical aid for them. The first phase of their programme ended on March 25 and will build at least 45 latrines for the slum dwellers. They treated 100 slum dwellers a day, who came to the medical camp to treat water-related and other diseases.

Their second phase will start from April 1 with household materials such as mosquito nets and kitchen utensils to be provided for 300 families.

The governmental and non-governmental organisations focussed more on publicity than real help, the victims alleged. The relief programme that the ruling and opposition parties promised continued only three days, although they committed to providing for seven days.

The relief programme that Leader of the Opposition Sheikh Hasina inaugurated on March 20 fizzled out, as the party leaders allegedly stopped the aid right after she left the scene. "I waited seven long hours to get my relief, but returned empty-handed though I had the slip," Shah Alam Fakir said.

Nazma Rahman, AL's secretary for relief and disaster management, denied the allegation. "We provided the relief for the dwellers we listed as destitute," she added.

Disaster Management and Relief Minister Chowdhury Kamal Ibne Yusuf promised house-building materials such as tin and bamboo with food and clothes, when he visited the slum area on March 5. But the dwellers claimed they did not get house-building materials yet.