Parliament: Claiming that the present government has the capacity to face any natural disaster, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday said steps are being taken to rebuild the houses of those damaged by ‘Mora’ and there would be no food crisis in the cyclone-affected areas.

‘We’ll rebuild the houses damaged by the cyclone and there would be no crisis of food, Insha Allah. We’re taking steps,’ she said.

Sheikh Hasina, also the Leader of the House, said this replying to a supplementary question from Awami League MP Mahbub Ul Alam Hanif (Kushtia-3) during her scheduled question-answer session in parliament.

The Prime Minister said she has already directed the authorities concerned to import food grains and the Food Minister went to Vietnam in this regard as flashflood has already damaged crops in the country’s Haor region. ‘We’ll procure additional rice alongside taking steps to boost production.’

Referring to the Cyclone ‘Mora’ that hit the coastal areas of Chittagong and Cox’s Bazar on Tuesday morning, Hasina said, ‘We’re making the list of the damaged houses for rebuilding those. We’re also providing food and cash to the cyclone affected people.’

She said the government gives priority to saving the lives of common people as Bangladesh is a disaster-prone country.

Sheikh Hasina told the House that the government will build higher shelters (earlier known as Mujib Killa) for accommodating the livestock in case of any cyclone or tidal surge in the coastal areas apart from building multipurpose cyclone shelters in the disaster-prone areas.

Hasina said she has directed her party General Secretary Obaidul Quader and other leaders of the associate organizations of the party to form teams and visit the cyclone affected areas and stand beside the affected people with necessary relief materials. Such teams are also being formed by the administration, Ministry of Disaster management and Relief, she added.

Following her directives, Hasina said, two ships of Bangladesh Navy reached Teknaf and Kutubdia to conduct relief operations while Air Force planes and helicopters were also kept ready to airlift relief materials to the cyclone-affected remote areas.

The Prime Minister said that her party always does politics for the welfare of the country’s people and criticised the role of the then BNP government for their negligence in tackling the cyclone that struck the coastal areas in 1991.

Replying to another supplementary question from independent MP Rustom Ali Farazi (Patuakhali-3), she said her government has special attention to rebuilding the embankments in the country’s coastal areas.

Hasina suggested that the Water Resources Ministry will have to be a bit more pro-active as it moves in a slow pace. ‘Projects are being taken, but there should be more dynamism in completing those.

Answering to another supplementary question from treasury bench member Mohammad Abdullah (Lakshmipur-4), she said steps will be taken so that the 2^nd phase works of protecting the Ramgoti and Kamalnogor areas from riverbank erosion start on completion of the first phase ones.