May 26, 2021, saw another addition to the list of violent cyclones in the Sundarbans. The entire Sundarbans, including the coastal areas of East Midnapore, South 24 Parganas and North 24 Parganas, was again devastated by the landfall on the Orissa coast. While the exact amount of damage can never be known; agriculture, fish farming, animal husbandry, trade and commerce have all been affected. Around 10 lakh people had to be brought to safe shelters.
According to various sources, the impact of cyclone Yaas in various areas and villages in South 24 Parganas and North 24 Parganas districts caused dangerous damage to the property, as seawater had dangerously swelled and dams in various places collapsed. Various villages were completely inundated by the floods. Mud houses of many people in the village were destroyed by the storm or by the tidal wave, forcing villagers to take shelter in the flood centres. As the tide rose, the river overflowed in different villages and whole villages were submerged. For a while, there was nothing left to help the helpless people. Crops grown in the field got flooded with saltwater, leaving them very worried about their immediate future.
After the landfall, PBKMS rushed to provide relief and assist speedy rehabilitation, in the Sundarbans. We provided 10Kg Bleaching and 60Kg Lime powder each, in villages of Nandakumarpur, Kumropara, Kankandighi, Namkhana, Narainpur anchals of South 24 Parganas (as of 14th June 2021) to clean the water sources and to purify drinking water. More than 70 quintals of Lime powder and 10 quintals of Bleaching powder has been provided to villages committees of different blocks of South 24 Parganas like Gosaba, Patharpratima, Kulpi and Kakdwip, to be spread in the next few days
Similarly, in Hasnabad, Minakhan, Kholapota, Sandeshkhali blocks of North 24 Parganas, PBKMS has extended a helping hand to the people affected by the cyclone. 250 Kg Bleaching powder and 1400Kg Lime powder has been provided in 25 villages of the district.
Community kitchens have been started in 17 villages where cooked meals have been provided (as of 1 July, 2021) to around 10,000 people, which includes people involved in river embankment repairing and their families. Meals are being cooked and served on different islands as well.
Our members, in various blocks of South 24 Parganas, have also coordinated and assisted individuals and other organisations like Udayani, Nabarun Sangha (a local club in Badu) and Sramajivi hospital in providing dry ration and food packets.
We had also made collections and distributed lungis, sarees, towels and other necessary items along with food packets in Kakdwip block.
Birla Cement Factory has provided 8,000 cement bags to PBKMS to use for embankment reconstruction. The bags will be utilized in Gosaba, Kulpi, Mathurapur 2, Kultali and Patharpratima for embankment reconstruction under the MGNREGA scheme.
We have sourced 2600 Kg Saline resistant paddy seeds for distribution in 5 blocks of South 24 Parganas (Mathurapur 1, Namkhana, Gosaba, Kultali, Patharpratima) and 5 blocks of North 24 Parganas (Hasnabad, Minakhan, Sandeshkhali 2, Basirhat 2, Nazet).
Bolpur Manav Zamin has provided us with 2000 kitchen garden seeds to be distributed to 2000 families in different blocks of North and South 24 Parganas who were trained by us to maintain organic kitchen gardens in their backyards, which were ruined by excessive rains, flood or the cyclone.
