Flood displaced people living at Jamuwa in Biratnagar metropolis, Morang, are facing hardship due to cold weather.

Temperature in the district has dropped significantly over the past four days. Many families, who were displaced by the flood of August last year, do not have proper shelters, nor warm clothes to keep themselves warm. Some people have started to fall sick due to cold.

 “We have no warm clothes to wear during this winter. My children are sick because of the cold,” said Kajal Rishidev, a flood victim. Her children are down with common cold and fever for the last few days.

Kajal’s husband works as a daily wage worker. She said his earning is hardly enough to manage two squares of meal a day.

There are 60 flood-affected families at Jamuwa, who have been living in a wretched condition for months now.

Their shelters made from tarpaulin sheets offer no insulation against the cold blast of wind that blows every night. They also do not have enough blankets and winter clothes to wrap themselves warm. 

“We lost everything in the monsoon flood, and now we have winter to contend with. People are falling sick one after another,” said Kuleshwor Rishidev, another flood displaced.

Local government health facilities, meanwhile, are going through a shortage of essential medicines. There are many children, old people and new mothers at Jamuwa, who require immediate medical help, as their families cannot afford to visit private clinics and hospitals.

Bhutiya Rishidev’s grandson is suffering from fever and diarrhoea. She said the local health facility could not do anything about her grandson’s illness due to medicine shortage.

“I took him to the health facility here, but the medical staff there sent us back, telling that they had run out of medicines,” she said.

Cold related diseases up

Patients suffering from cold related diseases are increasing in several Tarai districts, according to health officials. Health facilities in districts like Dhanusha and Sarlahi have witnessed a sudden surge in the number of patients of common cold, asthma and pneumonia. 

Medical Superintendent Dr Ram Parikshyan Yadav of Janakpur Zonal Hospital said the hospital was receiving up to 250 patients daily.

According to the Janakpur field office of the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology, the minimum temperature of Dhanusha plunged to 8.8 degrees Celsius while the maximum temperature was recorded 12.6 degrees on Wednesday. Schools in Mahottari and Dhanusha have been closed for a week due to cold weather.