150,000 people affected by rodent plague: Aid workers
Today Online 11 Feb 08;
DHAKA — Thousands of people in remote south-east Bangladesh are facing famine after a plague of rats destroyed their crops, forcing families to rely on dwindling food stocks, officials said.
The flowering of bamboo forests for the first time in 50 years in areas along the border with India has led to a "rat flood" — as rodents feeding on bamboo blossoms, rice stalks and vegetables have thrived.
"The rat invasion has turned hilly plantation areas into scorched earth," Mr Prosenjit Chakma, a senior aid official with the United Nations Development Programme said on Saturday after a visit to the Chittagong Hills Tracts.
"A localised famine is going on in the worst-affected areas like Sajek, Farua and Bilaichhari," Mr Chakma told AFP.
Bamboo forests first began blossoming last year in Lusai Hills in the neighbouring Indian state of Mizoram, prompting authorities there to declare it a disaster zone after rats ate food stocks.
The problem spread to nearby remote border villages in Bangladesh's hill districts and now stretches more than 300km.
Aid workers said the influx of rodents had affected 150,000 people in three of the districts. "Whatever they try to grow is devoured within hours by hundreds of thousands of rats," said Mr Auronendo Tripura, spokesman for the Rangamati Hill Council.
Locals said the plague occurred once every 50 to 60 years, with the last such disaster in 1958. — AFP
