Jarina Khatun, 22, had come to her maternal home at Musaharniya, Dhanusa, for prenatal care. But instead of healthy diet, she has been forced to feed on beaten and roasted rice after her maternal house was inundated by floodwaters which also destroyed food grains. 

Jarina, who is nine-months pregnancy, has been taking shelter in her neighbour’s house since the disaster struck the area on August 12. She has also been deprived of her regular medicines as they were destroyed in floods, and she is not in a position to go to health facility. She had well-cooked food for the first time in six days, on Saturday.

For 55-year-old Mahamuda Khatun, Jarina’s mother, food and shelter are not the major worries. She is praying for her daughter to have a safe delivery. “How can I take her [Jarina] to hospital?” she said.

Although the water level started receding gradually in the settlement from Friday, the low-lying areas remain cut off from motorable roads as most of the rural roads were swept away by floods.  

Like Jarina, scores of flood victims in Mukhiyapatti Rural Municipality share the same fate. 

Jaibul Khatun, another local, said that his eight-month-old granddaughter has been suffering from high fever. 

According to her, she brought some medicines through her relative from Matihani close to the bordering Indian town and fed the baby. 

“But the medicines had no effect on the infant. Both the mother and the baby have fallen ill now,” said despaired Jaibul. 

The local people urged the authorities to immediately dispatch a medical team in the village for the treatment. They also complained of not receiving relief supplies even after a week of the disaster. 

Kamal Husain, a local, said some government employees visited the area to assess the damage caused by the floods and inundation. “But the relief has not reached the village until Saturday,” he said. 

The flooded Bigahi river entered the settlement, destroying most of the mud houses with thatched roofs.