NewsR Staff
Fighting for gender sensitive disaster management response, Mayuri Bhattacharjee of Sonitpur in Assam has started an online petition urging people to sign it so that sanitary pads are also provided as flood relief.
In the petition, Mayuri writes there’s no time to grab pads when floodwaters are fast approaching. Few can imagine the agony millions are suffering in silence, she says, adding that’s why they need the Assam government to include pads in the list of relief material in flood camps.
Over 2.6 million people in 27 districts of the State are battling furious floods. The authorities have set roadside tents and relief camps to rehabilitate the affected people. But maintaining menstrual hygiene in such a situation is a big challenge for every woman.
The Tezpur-based menstrual hygiene educator cites an example in the local daily about a girl who escaped her inundated village last year. Another crisis awaited her as she reached the relief camp a couple of kilometres from her village Hatbor in Assam’s Nagaon district; she got her periods and there was no sanitary napkin available, not even a dry cloth.
The women in Kerala faced similar situation when the state was hit by flood two years ago.
The local authorities say the government is not distributing the item because it is not mentioned as a relief material in the list provided by the revenue and disaster management department.
