3. - usaid

Bridge washed out, but rails support human trscl?fic.
ACTION TAXEN BY THE GO-
OF U5T PAKISTAN
The Governlent of East Pakistan (GOEP) took charge of the entire relief
operation. The U. S. Mission reported that the GQEP relief' effort was
commendable. It was well organized. In districts where the situation
warranted, the GOEP assigned all senior officers to relief operations, and
a senior civil servant was placed in charge of the control rocm. Volunteers
worked on an ad hoc basis.
The GOEP began Mediately af'ter the July floods to evacuate and feed the
flood victims with the help of local govemnt bodies and organizations
opera tin^ out of community centers, govemnt warehouses and schools.
Same 84 vehicles, 74 motor and non-motorized boats were requisitioned for
transport in Chittagong. When the water receded, displaced persons returned
to their villapps and the GOEP established central distribution sites
throwJ1out Chittagong and Comilla areas. For a period of 12 weeks following
the July floods, needy disaster victims received specified quantities each
week of maize, wheat, soybean oil, fortified milk and cloth:lnp;, if needed.
Also each family whose house had been completely destroyed izceived two
bundles of corrugated iron sheeting.
Paddy fields that had been washed away were returned to f'ul:L cultivation by
Januar;y 1969. A U. S. Mission report stated: "The farmers (referring here
to worst hit districts) lost 92% of their Aman rice seedlings, and the
GOEP replaced these with seedlings from other sections of the province.
If the farmers had not been properly clothed and fed it is very doubtful
that the new rice crop would have been planted."
The East Pakistan Branch of the Red Cross worked in coordination with the
GOEP. It assisted local authorities in an anti-epidemic carrtpaign and in