About 20 kilometres from Sirajganj district headquarters, people in Shahjatpur upazila in the northern district have built flimsy houses for shelter on Nagarbari Highway, without access to drinking water and sanitation.

Now that about 100,000 handlooms in the 13 unions went under water, the weavers who worked on daily and weekly wages have been without work for more than three weeks.

Maidan Ali, 50, of Balshabari was squatting on the road with his four children and wife after he moved to the highway eight days ago. He received 1 kilogram of rice in relief.

"We are now without job for more than three weeks and do not know what to do," Maidan Ali said.

Abu Bakar Siddiqui from Balshabari said the region is famous for the small handloom industry, which produces saris, lungi and gamchha (bath towel).

"The weavers are mostly daily wage earners and all are now in desperate situation. We cannot even buy 100 grams of chilies on credit," Siddiqui said.

Union chairmen in the upazila converged at the office of the Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) to distribute aid among victims yesterday. UNO Mokhlesur Rahman said they were working day and night to help the victims in outlying areas.

"Distribution of rice through the chairmen of the unions continues every day," said Rahman adding he was now left with only eight tonnes of rice and expecting more to arrive.

Habibullah Nagar Union Chairman Bachchu Sarker said that 80 percent of the population in his union was living on rooftops or platforms. "The relief is so inadequate that when we arrive on the scene with relief, hungry people especially women and children rush to us, swimming to our boats," he said.

Mostafa Abu Zafar, Gala union chairman, said the deluge hit 4,000 weaving families in his union. "Many have moved to the highway for shelter and many are starving," said Abu Zafar, also the principal of Zamirta Degree College.

Another union parishad chairman Golam Rasul Peter was distributing money among victims. Men, women and children, seeing this correspondent, swam towards the motor boat thinking relief arrived.

Chairman Peter said the Jamuna river devoured four of the 20 villages in his union. In Koijuri, the loom owners are well off, but thousands of weavers and day labourers are starving. "Although I have so far received 18 tonnes of rice and distributed all of it, the relief is inadequate," he said.