Caritas India is providing immediate assistance for the people worst affected in the region of North 24 Parganas and South 24 Parganas in West Bengal. In this rural coastal region, many houses were razed to the ground, levees broke, and the fields have been flooded with seawater. The next harvest has been almost entirely destroyed.

“It is a disaster that people have lost their homes and their livelihoods due to the cyclone. In times of Covid-19, the situation is even more dramatic: Many day labourers, who in any case live hand to mouth, and who have lost their jobs and incomes due to the Coronavirus pandemic, returned from the cities to their home villages. There they are now experiencing a double disaster of a cyclone and Covid-19,” says Ms. Suyani Mondal, PRI Member from Kaijuri, Swarupnagar Block, North 24 Parganas

Together with partner organisations including Seva Kendra Kolkata and Palli Unnayan Samiti Baruipur, Caritas India is preparing swift emergency assistance measures for 5,000 families.

Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WaSH) has emerged as one of the pertinent tools to build the resilience of the people from hazard. The community especially the women and girls need to be oriented on the safe hygiene practices due to their unique risk, vulnerability and capabilities.

In a society, where  71% of girls are not told about period until their menarche, these important practical steps can be very difficult. Often than not, the cultural silence around the issue puts girls at risk of serious infections. It poses an increased risk for adolescent girls this– both at a physical, as well as mental-emotional level, and the remoteness of solidarity circles makes it trickier

SDG 6.2 acknowledges the right to menstrual health and hygiene, with the explicit aim to, “By 2030, achieve access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all and end open defecation, paying special attention to the needs of women and girls and those in vulnerable situations”.

Caritas India has conducted WaSH orientation for women and girls to provide adequate information on sanitation and hygiene practices. The orientation shares the information with the participants to reduce the transmission of faecal-oral and vector-borne diseases, reduce environmental health risks by promoting good hygiene practices. The emphasis was also given on safe menstrual hygiene practices.

In the coming day, Caritas India will continue with the orientation of the child parliament members from the village on WaSH and make people aware on “Usage of Sanitary Napkins” which adds on to the hygiene agenda.