It was a week after the recent fire incident that turned everything to ashes in a slum in Mirpur when people like Shahida Begum were looking for help to restore their normal lives. The only people that came to their aid and fed them were their neighbours. Poor people who are forced to settle down in slums or become squatters in the city are the most common victims of natural and man-made calamities in the rural areas, and are often found to be helpless after losing all their belongings in such incidents. They only receive humanitarian or philanthropic support from neighbours, relatives, and some NGOs, but lack permanent and systematic response systems that could help to rehabilitate them and overcome their loss gradually.

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