Food aid for BD villagers hit by rat invasion

Source by- http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=98797
Friday, February 29, 2008

DHAKA: The United Nations said Thursday it would distribute food and rat traps to people facing famine in southeastern Bangladesh where a plague of rodents has led to widespread crop destruction.

Around 7,000 of the most severely affected families in the Rangamati district would receive rice, shrimp paste, salt and two rat traps each, said Prasenjit Chakma of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Chakma said three parts of Rangamati district in the Chittagong Hill Tracts region had been hardest hit by the food shortages, with up to 26,000 people in urgent need. “All the crops and vegetables have been eaten up by the rats. The situation is perilous for the families. It is causing a famine-like situation in the hills,” he said.

Aid workers say around 150,000 people have been affected in Bangladesh. The Bangladesh army and Chittagong Hill Tracts district council were also handing out aid, he said, adding that the UNDP food distribution would begin next week.

Flowering of bamboo forests for the first time in 50 years in areas along the border with India has led to the so-called “rat-flood.” The rodents have multiplied in number 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.The authorities there declared it a disaster zone after rats went on to eat food stocks. The problem soon spread to Bangladesh’s hill districts along a 300-kilometre (180-mile) border stretch. Locals said the plague happens once every 50 to 60 years, with the last such disaster in 1958.