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Famine in Mizoram
Famine in Mizoram
Food aid begins after rat plague
Published: Monday, 19 May, 2008, 06:34 AM Doha Time
DHAKA: The UN’s World Food Programme yesterday began distributing
emergency food aid to 120,000 people facing famine in southeastern
Bangladesh, where an invasion of rats has led to widespread crop
destruction.
People from the affected areas in the Chittagong hill tracks are
struggling to feed themselves and have been eating wild roots from the
jungle ever since the area was overrun by millions of rats, the WFP
said.
It said its food aid would meet the immediate needs of over 25,680
households from May to August this year and would help “maintain
adequate food consumption and protect livelihood.”
“Thousands of poor tribal families would have remained destitute due
to the loss of their crops, and livelihoods,” said the acting WFP
representative in Bangladesh, Edward Kallon.
“The donor assistance has enabled WFP to respond quickly to feed these
vulnerable poor families who are in need of food,” he said.
Aid workers say the rat invasion has affected around 150,000 people.
Bangladesh’s army, local officials and the UN Development Programmes
are also handing out aid in affected areas.
The flowering of bamboo forests for the first time in 50 years in the
affected areas, located along a 300km (180-mile) border stretch with
India, has led to the so-called “rat-flood.”
The rodents have multiplied by feeding on bamboo blossoms, rice stalks
and vegetables. Villagers say that whatever they try to grow is
devoured within hours.
The bamboo forests first began blossoming last year in the Lusai Hills
in the neighbouring Indian state of Mizoram. Authorities there
declared it a disaster zone after rats went on to eat food stocks.
Locals say the plague happens once every 50 to 60 years, with the last
such disaster in 1958. It is feared the rats will infest the region
for at least three more years, as they did in the late 1950s. – AFP
Gulf Times Newspaper, 2008
Food aid begins after rat plague
Published: Monday, 19 May, 2008, 06:34 AM Doha Time
DHAKA: The UN’s World Food Programme yesterday began distributing
emergency food aid to 120,000 people facing famine in southeastern
Bangladesh, where an invasion of rats has led to widespread crop
destruction.
People from the affected areas in the Chittagong hill tracks are
struggling to feed themselves and have been eating wild roots from the
jungle ever since the area was overrun by millions of rats, the WFP
said.
It said its food aid would meet the immediate needs of over 25,680
households from May to August this year and would help “maintain
adequate food consumption and protect livelihood.”
“Thousands of poor tribal families would have remained destitute due
to the loss of their crops, and livelihoods,” said the acting WFP
representative in Bangladesh, Edward Kallon.
“The donor assistance has enabled WFP to respond quickly to feed these
vulnerable poor families who are in need of food,” he said.
Aid workers say the rat invasion has affected around 150,000 people.
Bangladesh’s army, local officials and the UN Development Programmes
are also handing out aid in affected areas.
The flowering of bamboo forests for the first time in 50 years in the
affected areas, located along a 300km (180-mile) border stretch with
India, has led to the so-called “rat-flood.”
The rodents have multiplied by feeding on bamboo blossoms, rice stalks
and vegetables. Villagers say that whatever they try to grow is
devoured within hours.
The bamboo forests first began blossoming last year in the Lusai Hills
in the neighbouring Indian state of Mizoram. Authorities there
declared it a disaster zone after rats went on to eat food stocks.
Locals say the plague happens once every 50 to 60 years, with the last
such disaster in 1958. It is feared the rats will infest the region
for at least three more years, as they did in the late 1950s. – AFP
Gulf Times Newspaper, 2008
