Every Sunderbans island needs a disaster reduction plan, say experts

‘Solutions that work for one island may not work for another’

Almost a week after cyclone Yaas battered coastal areas of West Bengal and Odisha, there are 17 community kitchens operating at Kumirmari, the remote island in the eastern part of the Sunderbans, bordering Bangladesh. There are still thousands of people stranded on the island who cannot return to their homes as large areas remain inundated. “Through these community kitchens, we are feeding about 5,000 people every day. Embankments have been breached at 16 places on the island and people have not been able to return to their homes,” said Debasish Mondal, Gram Pradhan of Kumirmari. On the other side of the creek lay reserve forest land and the Marichjhapi island, the Pradhan explained, saying that over the past few days, people taking shelter on the embankments had heard the roars of a tiger. Kumirmari, as the name implies, refers to human-crocodile conflict.