A large number of people in the eastern part of Dhaka city have been rendered shelterless as the flood water inundated Badda, Bashabo, Nandipara and Trimohini due to absence of a flood control embankment. There is a crying need for shelter, food, drinkable water, and medical help for these people.

Every hour nineteen new diarrhea patients are crowding into Dhaka's hospitals, let alone those in the outside areas. Flood water, mixed with sewage has been posing a threat to public health in the city. ICDDRB in the city had to set up tents for the ever-increasing number of diarrhea and cholera patients overwhelming the hospital. Diarrhea and other water-borne diseases have broken out as an epidemic in almost all the districts.

The ongoing flood has been wreaking havoc on the country's agriculture. The production of paddy, jute, sugarcane and vegetables in 271 upazilas of 38 districts is affected seriously, which may lead to further increase in the price of food items, especially vegetables.

The Food and Disaster Management Ministry's press note said that the flood (that began in mid-July) had engulfed 38 out of 64 districts, causing damage to 89,048 houses completely and 658,594 houses partially. 2,817 km of roads have been damaged completely while 17,463 km roads have been damaged partially. Flood has damaged 332 educational institutes completely and 4,893 institutes partially.

According to primary estimates by the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE), crops of 1.56 lakh hectares of land including 55,000 hectares of Aus crops have gone under flood water. DAE statistics also show that 20,744 hectares of vegetable land out of total 85,308 hectares, are now under flood water, while 20,977 hectares out of 116,342 hectare seedbeds have gone under water. It would be difficult to save the vegetables and the seedbeds in the flood affected areas if water stays for a long time, said a DAE source.

Besides, there is an alarm from the international donors for further food price hike and GDP fall. Donors' concerns were aired on August 8 at a special meeting of the local consultative group (LCG) comprising development partners and the government. So the government must be on the alert to combat the ensuing crisis with post-flood planning for proper supply of food, seeds, medicine and also the soft agricultural credit to farmers.

The Council of Advisers of the caretaker government has asked the concerned ministries to do advance planning for post-flood rehabilitation operation. Concerned ministries should draw up elaborate programs to face the post-flood crisis.

The Agriculture Ministry, which has the most vital role to play, should provide support to the farmers for fertiliser, seeds and seed-bed preparation during the post-flood period. It should have plans to prepare seed-beds on high lands, from where the farmers could be given seeds free of cost.

The commercial banks and the specialised banks in the country should enhance their agricultural credit disbursement target and also expedite their credit operations for facilitating the post-flood cultivation process.

The government should take some post-flood rehabilitation programs including permanent shelter to those who have lost homes, free supply of seedlings to the farmers, providing adequate farm loans, suspending interest for few months, increasing the number of VGF cards and taking other employment-generating projects. Bad days are really looming ahead if the government fails to deliver capacity building mechanism in agriculture, heavily damaged in this cataclysmic deluge, when the flood water will start receding.

Bangladesh is a country, which could not make headway as yet for attaining its self-sufficiency. The caretaker government did not seek relief from the international communities for the first time. The government, however, is willing to accept spontaneous cooperation from development partners at home and abroad in dealing with the exigencies caused by the raging floods across the country.

The chief adviser, in his address to the nation on August 5, has made an appeal to all sections of people, irrespective of class and profession, to come forward and join in relief operation for helping out the flood affected people. He also called for facing the disaster united equipped with whatever one has.

Floodwater has started receding leaving a trail of devastation and diseases, and the real problem of facing the post-flood crisis has just begun. Thousands of people grappling with water-borne diseases, mostly with diarrhea, need emergency health care. Non-availability of oral saline and medicines has made the situation worse. ICDDRB has already sounded warning about outbreak of diarrhea in an epidemic form in the flood-affected areas if the government fails to combat the situation.

Bangladesh is likely to face a major post-flood crisis. Millions of people are marooned, crops on thousands of hectares of land are damaged, roads and bridges are destroyed. One does not need much wisdom to apprehend the fearsome post-flood scenario. Only proper and timely planning to face post-flood crisis can save more lives and lessen suffering of the flood affected people.

The NGOs and the affluent people in the country should come forward in aid of the flood affected people along with the government measures tackling the post-flood crisis. The overall situation calls for a united approach to combat the post-flood crisis.

It is quite natural that the prices of all essentials will shoot up further in the post-flood period and the hoarders will continue to stock these items to create artificial crisis in the market. The government should take appropriate measures in order to off-set such trend. The issue of price hike has already become a serious concern and public resentment.

Bangladesh is not alone to face the flood catastrophe this year. Flood has hit India's Assam, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, and also Nepal. Bangladesh should take up the perennial flood issue including the river and water management of this reason to the next Saarc meeting to formulate a regional action plan to control flood jointly as has been done by many other countries.

A. N. M. Nurul Haque is a columnist of The Daily Star.