Thirteen districts of the country have been hit by the worst floods in living memory, caused by heavy rainfall and water influx from India. Millions of people have lost their homes and crops. 3.6 million people have been displaced and are facing losses. So far, 8 deaths have been reported in 4 districts. Additionally, the water levels of 9 southern rivers are flowing above the danger level.
As of Friday (August 23), a total of 13 districts of the country have been flooded. These districts are Feni, Noakhali, Comilla, Lakshmipur, Brahmanbaria, Cox’s Bazar, Khagrachhari, Chattogram, Habiganj, Moulvibazar, Brahmanbaria, Rangamati, and Sylhet.
It is learned that Feni has been the worst affected by this sudden flood. In some places, the water is chest-deep, in some places it is neck-deep, and in some places, it has submerged up to one story. The situation in other upazilas is almost the same. People are in trouble with their homes and roads submerged.
Meanwhile, many people have fled to shelters empty-handed, unable to retrieve anything from their homes. There is a shortage of clean water and food in the affected areas.
Ways to avoid flood water borne diseases
Flood is indeed a natural disaster. Polluted flood water endangers people’s livelihood. Floods increase the spread of infectious diseases. Children are more affected than adults. Lack of clean water causes many problems. Diarrhea, cholera, blood dysentery, typhoid, paratyphoid, viral hepatitis, abdominal pain, worm infections, skin diseases, eye diseases etc. spread in epidemic form. Various steps need to be taken to get rid of these problems.
Ensure clean water: Water sources become contaminated during floods. Due to this, various diseases spread from water. The main source of water that rises in the center of the capital is various sewage lines. As the water of the river flows above the danger line, it is not possible to drain the water in the sewage line. Water-borne diseases spread only in the capital and flood-prone areas due to the lack of clean water. Diarrhea, cholera, dysentery, typhoid, hepatitis, worm infections occur as epidemics. Many people die due to diarrhea. Another name for water is life; But another name for polluted water is death-epidemic. So the first thing to ensure the purity of water in flood. It will be possible to avoid these diseases if the water is purified and used in daily activities.
To ensure the use of clean water, water should be boiled well. Boil the water and cool it then drink it and use it for all purposes.
Tubewell safe water can be used for drinking and all purposes. But the tubewell water should be collected after squeezing it for one hour. However, it is safe to boil tubewell water too.
It is not safe to drink tubewell water if it is submerged in flood water. In this case, the upper part of the tubewell along with the bucket should be removed, and the bucket should be washed with clean water and replaced. Mix three-four teaspoons of bleaching powder in a jug of water and pour this water into the tubewell and wait for half an hour. After that, if you squeeze the tubewell water continuously for half an hour and throw it away, the tubewell water will be suitable for consumption. If bleaching powder is not available, the tubewell water should be squeezed continuously for one hour. After an hour the tubewell water will be drinkable. However, tube well water should also be boiled well for safety at this time. Strain the water and boil it for 10 minutes and then cool it.
If there is no facility to boil water, use water purification tablets. 7.5 mg halogen tablets (halo tab) in one and a half liters of food water, 15 mg tablets in three liters of water and 50 mg tablets in 10 liters of water for half an hour to one hour will purify the water.
But even if other germs die in it, virus-like germs do not die. Only boiling the water by boiling it destroys the virus. Many are interested in using alum; But alum does not sterilize water. If no other measures are available, alum can be used. In this case, 2 teaspoons of alum powder mixed well in 25 liters of water can be drunk after an hour.
Bleaching powder can be used in home water tanks to purify water. Keeping 250 grams of bleaching powder in every 1000 liters of water for one hour will purify the water. However, even in this case, the virus will not be destroyed.
