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Tragedy in the Himalays and Ganges-Brahmaputra Plain -
Flood, drought, earthquake and cyclone
Cyclone Hits Bangladesh, November 16, 2007
You Tube: Bangladesh cyclone kills ..
Over 2,200 Die In Bangladesh Cyclone - Bengali Disaster
Bangladesh Cyclone Sidr on MSNBC
Cyclone Sidr Banglades aftermath CBS Nov. 17, 2007
Cyclone Sidr's Deadly Trail Bangladesh Nov. 17 2007
Cyclone Sidr Bangladesh delivering AID Nov. 17, 2007
Cyclone Sidr Ripped Bangladesh
Destruction in storm ravaged Bangladesh - 17 Nov 07 - Barisal
Climate Change
At least 425 people were killed and thousands injured in 18 districts as the powerful cyclone Sidr lashed the country's south and south-western regions last night.
The terrible tropical storm that packed speeds of up to 240 kilometres per hour, made landfall in the Barisal-Khulna belt last night, flattening tens of thousands of houses and uprooting numerous trees.
"The hurricane crossed the coast at 3:00am early today (Friday) and was now lying over the southern and central parts of Bangladesh as a land depression this morning," a latest meteorological office bulletin said.
A total blackout gripped the country after Thursday midnight as all power stations tripped under the impact of the hurricane.
More than 100 people were killed and some 300 went missing in the worst-hit Bagerhat district. Besides, hundreds of people were wounded and thousands of houses flattened in the coastal district, police said.
The Daily Star reorts (Nov. 17, 2007):Death toll may cross 1,000; all communications, utility services snapped; thousands missing; houses, crops, trees destroyed; lakhs homeless.
Bangladesh dated with a nightmare as cyclone Sidr ripped through the southwestern coast late Thursday, killing over 700 people and demolishing houses, crops, vegetables and trees alike along its trail of devastation over an area of thousands of square kilometers.
Packing winds over 220km an hour, the fierce tropical storm roared across the shoreline after it hit landfall at the Khulna-Barisal coast at 7:30pm Thursday, cutting off all communications and utility services across the country.
“I've never seen anything like this in my 47 years life,” Khalilur Rahman, a government official in Patuakhali, told The Daily Star over telephone last night. “It was a panic beyond description. People found no way but to keep on screaming as long as the cyclone ran rampage here.”
One of the fiercest cyclones in the history of the land, the Sidr rode
on wailing winds, driving rains and tidal surges to wreak havoc for over 14 hours before moving to Asam and Tripura through the Sylhet border, turning into a well-marked low yesterday (Nov. 16, 2007).
Environmentalists and bio-diversity experts fear immense loss to the Sundarbans and its wildlife, as the brunt of hurricane Sidr was borne by the world's largest mangrove forest.
Sidr, with a ferocious wind force of over 220 kilometres per hour (kmph), hit the eastern parts of the forest, especially Chandpai range including Kochikhali, Kotka, Hiron Point, and Dublarchar, leaving a trail of severe devastation. The uprooted trees and destroyed houses on the edge of the forest are reminiscent of the devastation brought to the forest by the cyclone of 1988, sources said.
Ruining the beautiful, green landscape, cyclone Sidr has dealt a severe blow to the Sundarbans, destroying 1,528 square kilometres of the forest out of around 6,000 square kilometres, according to forest officials' primary assessment.
Of the devastated areas totalling about one-fourth of the forest, 1,200 square kilometres are land and the rest water bodies.
The officials assess that more than Tk 1,000 crore worth of forest resources have been lost in addition to another Tk 20 crore in infrastructure damage.
Though a chunk of the forest has been completely destroyed carcasses of only one tiger, 38 deer and one monkey have so far been recovered, officials say.
The situation is so bad that the Department of Forest is considering not permitting anyone to collect nypah, goran and honey from the Sundarbans this year (Daily Star, November 30, 2007).
The cyclone killed at least 57 people and injured hundreds in Barguna, state-run Bangladesh Television reported, adding that thousands of houses were damaged by the nightlong storm.
Further details were not available immediately, as communications with the district remained cut off. A report from Barisal said casualty figures in Barguna could rise further.
However, the people who are already 'refugees' environmentally, deserve 'obliged subsidies' (not perverse ones) from the international communities. For example, the Sidr-victims of Bangladesh, just after emergency relief, deserve to have houses that usual cyclones cannot destroy. Bangladesh government can at best prepare cyclone shelters, cannot afford to build livable homes for every family. UNHCR's argument “People displaced through environmental degradation will be able to move within their home country” is right. People surely can move from one place to another but they are at risk because sometimes they 'are moved by' both natural and social forces. The people whom we call 'environmental refugees' have been 'persecuted by the environment' and these mostly 'internally displaced peoples' have been driven away or made to flee away by natural, social, economic or the combination of these forces from their homes (Abdus Sattar Molla, November 30, 2007).
There were reports of 90 deaths in Patuakhali, 28 in Jhalakathi, 21 in Barisal, 18 in Madaripur, 21 in Gopalganj, 20 in Shariatpur, 12 in Khulna, 24 in Pirojpur, 13 in Bhola, four in Chandpur, three in Munshiganj, six in Faridpur, four in Satkhira, two in Narayanganj and one in Habiganj and Laxmipur each.
Official figures put the death toll at 233 in 19 districts, which exclude Barguna, Pirojpur and Jhalakathi.
Acting Secretary at food and disaster management ministry, Mohammad Ayub Miah, disclosed the casualty figures at a press briefing at PID conference room this afternoon.
Red Crescent fears toll may top 10,000 Crisis of drinking water; relief inadequate; diarrhoea, hunger spread
Government's disaster preparedness (warning) may have save some lives but not livelihoods
Low-lying areas of many coastal districts were inundated as storm surge whipped by raging winds washed the areas. "It was the worst nightmare of its kind I have ever experienced," a Patuakhali police official quoted an elderly man as saying while narrating the nightlong horrors. Thousands of people were injured in the south and south-western regions and most houses there were either fully or partially damaged in the cyclonic storm, one of the worst in the country.
In Bagerhat, road communications with all upazilas, including Swarankhola, Mongla and Morelganj, remained disrupted. What happened to the residents in Dublar Char, including thousands of fishermen, could not be known as local administration failed to contact them. A coastguard team from Mongla set out for the offshore island in the morning. One trawler, some passenger- and fishing-boats sank in the Mongla port channel, officials said. A Sundarbans forest official told UNB that the cyclone wreaked havoc in the mangrove forests at the "first hit". "Our offices were damaged, boats capsized or washed away," he s
Sidr survivors protest at inadequate relief supply
Several hundred Sidr victims in Barguna staged a silent demonstration on Wednesday against not getting enough relief for survival.
‘The local government representatives are not giving us sufficient relief goods,’ was the main complaint of the more than 400 destitute people coming from Khajurtala village of Gaurichanna union under sadar upazila of the district.
They demonstrated in front of the Barguna Press Club holding banners for hours and asking the authorities for adequate supply of relief materials to their localities.
The demonstrators, who said they had received only 1.5 kilograms of rice per head since the cyclone, left the scene at around 1.00pm.
But, when contacted, the deputy commissioner of the district, Altaf Hossain, said there was no scarcity of relief goods and everyone was getting relief goods that were adequate for one’s survival.
‘We sent more supplies to the worse affected areas than the less affected ones, which may have caused resentment among the residents of the latter localities,’ Altaf Hossain told New Age.
An elderly resident of Barguna told New Age by phone that he had information that the supply of relief to many of the affected areas, like Raybhogh and Charakgachhia in Nali union, was still inadequate. He said nearly 1,000 homes and a market were completely washed away in Nali, but the survivors had received only 10kg rice per family in the last 13 days from the local UP chairman.
The police on Sunday detained 12 people when they were out on demonstrations seeking relief at Sonarbangla of Gaurichanna in Barguna.
Witnesses said about 200 people brought out a procession in the village, some 6km off the district headquarters, in the morning. Holding banners and festoons, they demanded food and clothes and marched towards the town before being stopped by the police at Khejurtala, four kilometres off the town.
The police snatched away the banners and festoons and asked the marchers to go to the office of the deputy commissioner to place their demands.
The police led a group of 12 demonstrators, took them to the Barguna police station and detained them, some demonstrators alleged. A large number of women also joined the demonstrations.
Leaders of various political parties denounced the arrest of 12 people in Barguna on charge of rallying for food and the remark of the communications adviser, MA Matin, that the government would go tough against any such demonstrations and politicisation of relief activities. They told New Age that it was unbecoming of the government to show such an attitude towards cyclone victims and suggested that the government should not take any heavy-handed measures (New Age, December 3, 2007).
The Cyclone Sidr apparently held the real degree of its destruction in store for the nation until yesterday, four days into the catastrophe, with the government gradually raising the death toll to 2,300 and Red Crescent fearing causalities as high as 10,000.
Four days into the hurricane, in Majher Killa, the furthest corner of Dublarchar and the worst-hit area, still reeling from the devastation with bodies being recovered; and the need of the moment is water. Eight more bodies were found here and many more are feared buried deep in the forest.
A man standing there picks up the grains and shows us. "This is what we are left with," he says. A bad stench assails our noses rice rotten by water mixed with sand. "We can't eat this. If you eat, you will be like him," and he shows a man sitting under a tree looking lifeless. The man has diarrhoea since last night and is dehydrated by now.
"Do you have some water? Just a little?" asks a boy. "We don't have any pond left."
But just a few feet from him is a big pond full of clear water. "What about that?"
"No, you can't drink that. It is now sea water."
Already a group has formed around us. They look at us with pleading eyes. "Water? Any water? Please!"
"We waited for four days for a trawler to send his body home," Tushar says. Marks of injuries on his chest. "We did not find a single trawler. So we are putting him to rest here."
And that is the tragedy of Dublarchar today. The man who would control all the trawlers could not find a single one left to carry him home.
But then he was lucky, if it could be called "luck" at all. His body was at least identified and buried. We find four more bodies, all floating in the canals of the Sundarbans. One tangled in a net and another stuck to a tree. People are still trawling the ponds in search of their missing ones.
As we walk back from the cyclone shelter, we find a silent column of people walking behind us. Then they catch up with us. "Please take us with you,
just put us on some road, we want to go home," they whisper.
"Please give us some water, please! Please give us some food! Please! Please! Please!"
We know we have no control over these things. We are just some helpless journalists going from one water marooned place to another, and then to a ship anchored in the middle of the bay.
We start walking faster. We are now fleeing from the haunted island (Daily Star, November 19, 2007).
The Sidr havoc- 'environmental refugees'
Who knows if the last 15th November's devastating hurricane (named Sidr) attack on the south and south-west of Bangladesh is not at least partially caused by the recent environmental changes that are largely a product of human actions? This single havoc killed about five thousand people (very conservative estimate in contrast to Red Crescent's estimate of 10 thousand deaths), millions of trees, thousands of wild animals and millions of cultured chickens and prawns. I am not speaking of human dwellings or social institutions.
Why so many people live in the coastal area and in many thatched houses prone to destruction even by a strong wind, let alone such tidal and stormy surge? They are over users of the fisheries and forests there. So there are many funding agencies to 'help them with loans', though in payment of high (one said 16% in a BBC interview) rate of interest.
Besides, they have no other way; they have been driven away from their parental/self-made homes by river erosion, construction of dam or embankment, or industrialization and urbanisation in certain areas of the country. These people can perfectly be called 'environmental refugees' a term popularised by Andrew Simms since 2003.
Number of environmental refugees will surpass the political ones by many folds and it may prove unmanageable by any single international body. So, preventive measures are far better. That is, we need to compete with environmental changes through every means and we must “get on top of the problems before they get on top of us” as Dr. Myers suggested.
Climate-linked migration may trigger conflict
Climate change poses a big threat to a total of 46 nations and 2.7 billion people putting them at high risk of being overwhelmed by armed conflict and war.
"A further 56 countries face political destabilisation, affecting another 1.2 billion individuals," this stark warning will be outlined by the peace group International Alert in a report, A Climate of Conflict, to be released this week.
The report reveals that much of Africa, Asia and South America will suffer outbreaks of war and social disruption as climate change erodes land, raises seas, melts glaciers and increases storms. "Even Europe is at risk."
The report states, "A different situation affects Bangladesh. Here climate-linked migration is already triggering violent conflict."
"Droughts in summer combined with worsening flooding in coastal zones, triggered by increasingly severe cyclones, are destroying farmland in Bangladesh. Millions have already migrated to India, causing increasingly serious conflicts that are destined to worsen."
"Climate change will compound the propensity for violent conflict, which in turn will leave communities poorer and less able to cope with the consequences of climate change," the report states.
The worst threats involve nations lacking resources and stability to deal with global warming, added the agency's secretary-general, Dan Smith.
"Holland will be affected by rising sea levels, but no one expects war or strife," he told The Observer in London.
"Holland has the resources and political structure to act effectively. But other countries that suffer loss of land and water and be buffeted by increasingly fierce storms will have no effective government to ensure corrective measures are taken. People will form defensive groups and battles will break out."
Peru's fresh water comes mostly from glacier melt water. But by 2015 nearly all Peru's glaciers will have been removed by global warming and its 27 million people will nearly all lack fresh water. In Africa, rivers such as the Niger and Monu are key freshwater resources passing through many nations. As droughts worsen and more water is extracted from them conflicts will be inevitable.
In Europe, most countries are currently considered stable enough to cope with global warming, apart from the Balkans; wars have left countries such as Serbia and Montenegro politically weakened. As temperatures rise and farmland is reduced, population pressures will trigger violence that authorities will be unable to contain.
Some nations on the risk map, such as Russia, may cause surprise. "Moscow's control of Russia as a whole will not be undermined by global warming," said Smith. "But loss of farmland in some regions will lead to local rebellions like those already triggered in Chechnya."
Conflict triggered by climate change is not a vague threat for coming years, he added. "It is already upon us."
Source: The New Nation, November 05, 2007).
Climate change induces migration
The International Alert, a group of experts which works for noting the effects of climate change over the years, has reportedly prepared a report on the subject. Based on data obtained from forty-six countries, which are threatened frequently from climatic change, the report reveals that heavy rains and flooding of rivers have not only damaged habitats but also affected the production of the primary sector of the economy. Millions of people in the affected countries bear the brunt of the destruction of habitats and loss of production.
The report entitled "A climate conflict," may be released this week and made available to relevant agencies and quarters of the society in countries in Asia, Africa and South America. The effects of climate change have already started being felt in many countries. The erosion of land, melting of glaciers, rises in the sea levels and flooding of rivers and riverine areas have affected the life and living of the people. In countries like Bangladesh droughts in the dry season and flooding in the rainy season have repeatedly affected production. The people affected adversely migrate from their parental homes to safe zones, including urban areas for survival. The migration of people to neighbouring territories often leads to conflicting situations. The migration of people from environmentally degraded areas to safe zones and neighbouring countries would increase in the coming years. Concerned countries try to send back the environmental refugees to their countries of origin.
Legal actions taken against the migrants not only affect them but also create tensions between the home countries of migrants and host countries. Millions of migrants in Asia, Africa and South America thus face uncertain future.
Climate change in the world is related to global warming in general and exploitation of natural bounties including water, oil, gas, coal, forests, hills and mountains. The use of energy for industrial complexes by developed countries has increased. They have started updating their technology used for aircraft, ships and industries. The effects of the unrestricted use of energy have started appearing in the form of global warming. The snow in mountains are melting in accelerated rates, water of rivers as well as other natural bounties have already been over-used. As a result, the climatic conditions in the world continue to turn dangerous for human beings, animals and plants. That being so, use of natural resources has to be made sustainable. The flows of water in major rivers should be preserved. Otherwise, the availability of fresh water may be reduced and people in different countries may suffer from different problems including diseases. Environmental migration can be stopped only by slowing the pace of environmental degradation with a view to achieving sustainable development in the long run (Source: The New Nation, November 06, 2007).
Environmental migration to escalate tension in South Asia
Bangladesh could face security threats due to climate change, which is likely to trigger environmental migration and cause escalation of tension between neighbours in the years to come, warns a global report on environmental changes.
The report titled ‘Climate Change as a Security Risk’ says, probable loss of arable and residential lands through flooding in this part of the world will result in increase in internal and external environmental migration and strain relations between countries.
‘The instability in the east of the subcontinent is likely to increase and relationships between the countries [Bangladesh and India] will come under additional strain,’ forecasts the report prepared by the German Advisory Council on Global Change. The issue is likely to become a security problem since, the report explains, the two sides are not prepared to engage in political dialogue.
The report, which is yet to be published, warns that by 2020 the economic situation in Bangladesh is extremely unstable and the country is embroiled in a major political crisis in that decade.
‘Political elite thwart the spread of democracy; urgently needed reforms are put on the back burner. A broad middle class, which could institute economic and political reforms, is extremely slow to develop,’ reads the report.
The annual costs of the damage caused by natural disasters now amount to almost 15 per cent of Bangladesh’s gross domestic product. In 2020, the report mentions, Bangladesh could be one of the countries in which the ‘effects of anthropogenically-induced climate change, floods, drought and coastal erosion are already very clearly visible’.
It says severe floods could overwhelm the capacity of Bangladesh to deal with disasters and ultimately its capacity to provide food for the population, 60 per cent of which is supported by agriculture.
Already as a result of sea level rise, the coastal regions around the ‘gulf of Bengal’ are constantly losing valuable residential land, fertile farmland and coastal ecosystems such as Sundarban.
‘Bangladesh will be particularly severely affected by the effects of climate change,’ the report says citing study findings that production of rice and wheat could fall by 8 per cent and 32 per cent, respectively, by the middle of the century.
‘It is therefore foreseeable that climate change will overwhelm political structures and will further exacerbate economic and social problems.’
The climate change will primarily affect subsistence farmers and slum dwellers in the mega-cities, the report warns adding that such a reality, in combination with awareness of increasing social inequality and inadequate access to social services, will increase the existing susceptibility – arising in part from ethnic and religious tensions – to violently expressed conflict.
In a chapter titled ‘Fictitious confrontation scenario: Disaster management fails’ the report points out that the cross-border migration also gives rise to diplomatic tensions between Bangladesh and India.
‘The political conflict between the two states escalates; India threatens Bangladesh with ‘humanitarian intervention’ on the pretext that the environmental migrants represent a terrorist threat,’ according to this scenario.
It further says that the Ganges delta, which has already been badly damaged by storm floods, offers little resistance to the destructive power of the winds — something which has already been witnessed during the recent cyclone Sidr.
However, in another chapter titled ‘Fictitious cooperation scenario: Crisis management succeeds’ the report foresees growing international concern over security situation, especially New Delhi’s reluctance to enter political dialogue with Dhaka on environmental migration after erection of fence along 4,000 kilometres of border (New Age, Dec. 24, 2007).
No VGF cards, house building loans for thousands in Bhola
Thousands of poor farmers and fishermen in remote chars of Bhola are passing their days in misery, without any assistance to rebuild houses and vulnerable group feeding cards, three weeks after cyclone Sidr pounded the south coasts.
There are allegations of irregularities and nepotism by union council chairmen and members in the distribution of the VGF cards and allocation of loans for rebuilding houses in various places of Bhola, especially char areas.
Visits to some chars, about 100 kilometres off the district headquarters, showed thousands of villagers were struggling after losing their livelihood and their homesteads.
People of Anjuhat at Charfesson, Char Leolin, Char Sikdar, Char Motahar and Char Manohar — all in the south of the district or in the Bay of Bengal and difficult to reach — came in groups to tell their miseries after the cyclone.
Abdul Mannan, an elderly resident of Char Sikdar, told New Age what he received in relief was not enough to feed his family. No job is available too, he said (New Age, December 8, 2007).
Acute crisis of drinking water
Around 30,000 fishermen at different Sidr-affected chars adjacent to the Sundarbans are facing an acute crisis of drinking water as the November 15 cyclone left badly polluted all the four ponds which used to be the source of potable water for them.
Of the four ponds, three located at Office Kellar Char, Narikelbariar Char and Sholar Char still contain highly contaminated water with no steps as yet for its purification.
Water in the other pond, at Meher Alir Char, has been purified to some extent with individual initiative. And several thousand fishermen from nine chars now collect water from this pond every day.
Fishermen at these chars have demanded that the authorities take immediate steps to clean these ponds as diarhhoea has broken out in different areas due to crisis of drinkable water. And any delay in this regard might lead to an epidemic, they feared.
Meanwhile, the administration is providing purified water received as US relief at Maron Char. But fishermen hardly take this water following a rumour that it causes diarrhoea.
At Meher Alir Char Thursday morning, it was found that hundreds of fishermen had already gathered around the eight acre-pond to collect water.
Many of them had come from places 10 to 22km away by boat. Carrying different kinds of water containers, they were standing in long queues.
Dublar Char fishermen led by Major (retd) Ziauddin Ahmed and his brother Kamaluddin Ahmed looks after the pond. They had taken steps to clean the pond and make its water drinkable.
A number of fishermen from Sholar char came to take water from this pond for around 5,000 fishermen at the char, about 30km away. It takes around two hours to come to Meher Alir Char and another two hours to go back.
Maron Char with about 5,000 fishermen living there is about 10km from Meher Alir Char, Majher Kellar Char with about 4,000 fishermen is 4km away while Manik Khalir Char where around 1,000 fishermen now live is 12km away. There are about 4,000 fishermen at Narikelbariar Char which is 22km away, and around 2,000 at Office Kellar Char, 8km away from Meher Alir Char.
And they have to depend on water from this pond.
A number of fishermen said they have got relief materials but they are not getting drinking water. Ziauddin said, "There is hardly any food crisis at these Islands but crisis of drinking water has turned acute. The government should take immediate measurers to purify water of the ponds to end the crisis.” Unless this done as early as possible, diarrhoeal diseases might spread at different chars, said Ziauddin, who was a sub-sector commander in Sector-9 during the Liberation War (Hasan Jahid Tusher, from Meher Alir Char, Sundarbans ; December 8, 2007).Flood Situation Worsens, August 2007
In most major religions, cultures and societies around the world there is a tale about a great flood. The stories are all slightly different but the moral remains the same, God (or some higher being) is fed up with the people of the world and the ensuing flood is basically to put them in their place. The most famous story is that of Noah and his ark and that is a story Bangladesh can learn a lot from. When the floods come, pack up your stuff and head for higher ground, but in the great delta very few places can be deemed “higher ground”. What we are left with are disasters of biblical proportions, thousands dead and millions homeless.
The stories of Bangladesh's floods are quite unremarkable depending on their severity they appear every year, and seemingly year after year the nation is left unprepared for them. Why is that the case?
It is either gross negligence or a lack of foresight on the part of the government; it is probably a bit of both.
Teeming monsoon rains have inundated wide swaths of northern India and neighboring Bangladesh, killing at least 166 people and washing away villages and farmland that 19 million people depend on, officials said Thursday.
With rain-swollen rivers bursting their banks along the fertile plains south of the Himalayas, India sent soldiers to help evacuate people from some of the worst-hit areas.
"I have not seen such flooding in the last 24 years. It's a sheet of water everywhere," said Santosh Mishra, a resident of the Gonda district in Uttar Pradesh, one of the areas soldiers were sent. Authorities urged residents of 65 nearby villages to evacuate.
"There are no signs of houses, temples or trees," Mishra told the local Sahara Samay television channel.
Some 14 million people in India and 5 million in Bangladesh were displaced or marooned by the flooding, according to government figures, with at least 120 people killed in recent days in India and 46 more in Bangladesh (AP, August 2, 2007).
There are large negative effects of floods on the spatial incidence of poverty. These effects are especially strong in the short term in the immediate aftermath of major floods though there also appear to be longer-term negative effects. However, normal flooding is necessary and beneficial for agriculture, transport and fisheries. The probability of catastrophic flooding in Bangladesh is about once in a decade. Floods can devastate the physical and social capital of societies and destroy whatever tiny amounts of savings poor households have and when these floods are as frequent and catastrophic as they are in Bangladesh and similar flood basins, the effects can be ruinous.
More areas of the central part of the country, including the eastern side of the capital, are going under floodwater, as the Jamuna, Padma, Meghna and small rivers around Dhaka continue to swell at most points. More than a third of Bangladesh, a low-lying delta of 145 million people, has been inundated by floods. Nearly five million people have either been marooned or displaced in the country?s hardest-hit northern region.
Many displaced people have taken shelter on embankments, while others have moved onto rooftops of their houses. Residents are using small boats to move around. The deluge is feared to cause huge losses to the agriculture and bring water-born diseases in its wake.
Flood-affected people of Ranigram in Sirajganj dismantle their homes and move to higher grounds yesterday as the flood situation in the district worsens. The flood situation continued to deteriorate in most flood-affected districts yesterday while scarcity of drinking water has become a serious problem for the marooned people exposing them to various water-borne diseases.
Five people, including three children, died by drowning in floodwater in Ullapara and Sadar upazila of Sirajganj yesterday while another child died in Gaibandha.
Many, mostly the poor, people who took shelter on higher lands and flood protection embankments, are running short of food and have became helpless due to loss of their livelihoods, reports The Daily Star correspondents Hasibur Rahman Bilu and Golam Mostafa Jibon from Sirajganj.
Women and children are bearing the brunt of this crisis as many mothers cannot breastfeed their children.
Syeda Begum, 20, one of over 12,000 people who took shelter on Ranigram embankment in Sirajganj, said she could not breastfeed her three-month-old boy, as she had nothing to eat for a day.
“We have no food left for tomorrow and we are drinking impure water as all the tube wells went under water," said Josna Begum, 60, of Khokshabari in Sirajganj Sadar upazila
The flood situations in Lalmonirhat, Kurigram, Gaibandha, Rangpur, Netrakona, Sunamganj, Sylhet and Bogra are unlikely to aggravate and may even start improving within the next 24 hours. The situations in Jamalpur, Sirajganj, Pabna and Tangail are still deteriorating and expected to start improving within the next two days.
Floods and poverty are inextricably linked. Over millennia,
people have naturally settled in flood plains and river basins.
The nature of river basins is such that their land is highly fertile,
perfect for intensive agricultural settlements. Indeed, many sites
of civilisation have grown in river basins.
The Nile in Egypt,
the Ganges in India, the Huang He in China, the Mekong
in south-east Asia, and, in modern times, the Mississippi of the
US are examples. Over time, many of these river basins have
developed some of the highest population densities in the world,
with delayed demographic transition consequent to poverty
(Wright, 2005) trapping many such countries in the middle phases. With these growing population densities, the carrying
capacities of the land become strained. Poverty and low education
levels then become prevalent and poverty, environmental
effects and high fertility rates may become locked in a selfperpetuating
cycle
The water level of the Padma continued to rise at all points and was flowing 122cm and 78cm above danger levels at Goalundo and Bhagyakul. The river is likely to swell further in the next 24 hours.
More areas of Manikganj, Munshiganj, Faridpur, Rajbari, Madaripur, Shariatpur and Dohar and Nawabganj upazilas of Dhaka are likely to be inundated soon.
Small rivers surrounding Dhaka and Narayanganj continued to swell and are likely to approach danger levels in the next day or two. The Buriganga was flowing 82cm below danger level yesterday.
The Meghna at Bhairab Bazar continued to swell and was flowing 25cm above danger level yesterday. The Meghna is likely to rise even further inundating more low-lying areas of Narsingdi, Brahmanbaria and Narayanganj.
Breaching all official estimates, the consumer price inflation has reached a new height at the end of last fiscal year (FY07). Neither the finance ministry nor the central bank has been able to keep the inflation rate within their target.
There are at least four possible ways in which poor households
might be affected more than non-poor households:
All four factors can individually and cumulatively lead to the flood-induced spatial or geographic poverty trap referred to earlier, as opposed to non-location specific causes of household poverty.
Although the government has initiated some administrative measures to keep the market prices within a tolerable level, reality checks revealed that these measures have been largely ineffective. Rather, to comply with the international financial institutions like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the government in April increased the prices of four types of fuel oils, pushing up the inflation risks. Interestingly, both the government and the World Bank argued that the increase in oil prices would not raise the inflation any more. That also proved wrong.
Bhatiali (boatman's) Songs: |
Thousands contract diarrhoea as water starts receding
Flooding started showing signs of improvement as water in major rivers receded on Wednesday, but the supply of relief goods and medicine to combat waterborne diseases still remain inadequate.
One hundred and ninety-two died in flooding that began in mid-July. About 10 million people in 38, out of the 64, districts have been affected by the flooding, according to official records. The records reported 28 deaths in districts on Wednesday.
At least 18,301 people suffering from diarrhoea were admitted to hospital in the eight days because of a lack of pure drinking water, according to health office sources.
About 6,500 people have been suffering from respiratory tract infections and skin and eye diseases for about a week, and 8,441 people have suffered from waterborne diseases till Wednesday.
‘The situation is alarming,’ said a physician at the largest diarrhoea hospital in Dhaka. About 700 patients were admitted to the hospital on Wednesday. The number of such admissions ranges between 300 and 400 on an average a day.
Saima Sultana has got no time to wail over the death of her two daughters. She has to attend two sons now fighting for life in the ICDDR,B hospital bed.
Flood has shattered the life of Saima and her rickshaw-puller husband, Arifur Rahman. All happened in just a couple of days.
‘Flood has swallowed one of my daughters today and the other one died for want of water yesterday. Now I am fighting to save my two sons,’ said Saima from capital’s outskirts Beraid that remained inundated for the last 10 days.
Scores of diarrhoea, pneumonia and typhoid patients thronged various hospitals, especially the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B) and Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) yesterday compelling the authorities to engage more doctors and staffs to cope with the situation.
ICDDR,B authorities said around 600 to 700 diarrhoea patients are coming to the hospital every day.
A large number of children suffering from fever, pneumonia and skin diseases were rushed to DMCH, Sir Salimullah Medical College Hospital, and Dhaka Shishu Hospital yesterday.
A correspondent in Faridpur reports: Over 500 people have been infected with water-borne diseases in the district and the number is climbing. There is a shortage of oral saline in the flood-hit areas. Scarcity of food and drinking water remains in the remote flood-affected areas (Daily Star, August 10, 2007).
Unprepared for a Predictable Disaster
The truth of the matter is that there is a lack of planning and coordination from the government. Since the floods of the late 80s many studies have been carried out and the findings of those research initiatives were mixed. They did not fully back embankments and there was even a mini slogan “live with floods”. What came out of it all was strategic embankments. And for the first time drainage was brought to the limelight and was to play a major role in saving many areas from floods.” But while strategic embankments were the way to go forward the issue of drainage took a back seat. In fact one might even say it was swept under the rug. There was to be an all-encompassing method to save the country from floods and that was hailed as embankments.
With the population exponentially increasing over the past 30 or so years the simple fact is that now people live where traditionally floods have taken place. Coupled with that is the fact that government and business installations have increased round the country and gone to remote places, even those need to be saved now.
The vaccines and medicines to treat water borne diseases such as cholera, dysentery, typhoid, jaundice and obviously diarrhoea should be available in stocks in flood prone areas, rather than sending them out there after the floods have started. Sanitation is also a huge problem in rural Bangladesh when the floods roll by. Tube wells are used around the country and when the floods come the water comes by and contaminates them. They should be properly taken care of by taking the tap off and sealing the pipe so as to keep the integrity of its water safe
200 years ago there was always efficient water management. The British came and handed down those duties to the landed gentry aka the zamindars and our problems were created. Since then things have not been the same. What has also not helped in the massive increase in population, people have now moved into the flood plains to live. If that happens of course they will be affected by the floods. The floods have been going on since time immemorial the areas that were traditionally flooded the same areas are flooded now, the only problem is that people live there now. Even more interesting is that before the strain of rice grown could handle floods, now we have all these high yield varieties, which cannot take excess water. This causes some of the food shortages. The problems are all very simple to understand (Ainun Nishat. August 2007)
Crisis of drinking water
With the flood waters receding, incidence of various types of waterborne diseases is rapidly increasing. Each day people afflicted in the low lying peripheries of the capital city throng ICDDR,B, the premier centre for treatment of diarrhoea and cholera in the country. On 14 August the centre registered the highest number of patients in a day since its establishment 47 years ago.
If this is the situation in around the capital city one can well imagine as to what it would be like in the inundated rural areas of the country. The government's monitoring cell has identified as many as 1526 unions and 217 upazilas as being seriously affected by water-borne diseases. These figures are based on reported cases, so that the actual magnitude of the incidence may be bigger.
We are in the dark as to the status of other waterborne diseases like typhoid, hepatitis, viral fever, pneumonia, skin diseases and conjunctivitis.
Urgent attention should be given to ensure availability of safe and clean water by repairing the cross-leakage between the water supply network and sewer lines. This measure along with free supply of water purification tablets and clean bottled water should result in drastically reducing the incidence of diseases.
In dealing with diarrhoea, cholera, typhoid, hepatitis we need a steady supply of ORS, IV saline and different kinds of antibiotics respectively. It is not enough to say that the factories are working overtime and stocks are sufficient, what is more to the point is their timely distribution to the affected people.
Enough water purification tablets should be available to every household before the flood comes. Understandably, lack of safe drinking water is the main cause of widespread diarrohoea in the flood-affected areas in Bangladesh. Flood in Bangladesh, among other things, is always associated with monsoon rain, and I do not understand why the ICDDR,B or the Disaster Management Bureau does not advise the flood-marooned people to store rainwater for drinking and cooking purposes during the crisis period lasting hardly one to two weeks. This is probably the safest source of water (after a couple of minutes of shower) at hand in such a situation. It may be mentioned here that almost the entire requirement of freshwater for drinking and cooking is met from storing rainwater in the Maldives.
Tornado ravages Southern Bangladesh September 21, 2006
1,500 still missing in Bay
Navy, Coast Guard continue rescue operation; 46 bodies recovered so far; tornado ravages 200 houses in Hatia
September 21, 2006
Will the missing fishermen come back? Who will answer this question? These apparently lost people were the bread earners of their families.
Hope fades fast for more than a thousand fishermen who have remained missing since hundreds of boats and trawlers went under during the violent storm in the Bay on Tuesday (Sept. 23, 2006, Daily Star). Global Warming will displace 2/3 of 140 million population 
At least 1,500 fishermen remained missing in the Bay for the third day yesterday while 21 more bodies of storm victims were recovered as the low turned into a land depression and moved towards the west of the country.
Meanwhile, a tornado ripped through eight villages at Hatia upazila of Noakhali yesterday morning, destroying more than 200 houses and injuring some 25 people. Since the heavy storm on Tuesday evening, 46 bodies have been recovered from the coastal areas, said official sources. Different private TV channels reported that at least 73 bodies were recovered till yesterday evening.
The government has yet to take comprehensive measures to rescue the missing fishermen. A team of the navy however was searching for the officer who went missing during the storm. There was no trace of him as of late last night.
You've set me adrift
You've sunk me
The endless waters have no shore
Limitless, with no shores, the waters have no banks
O row with care boatman, my riven boat.
No Advance Warning, the Poor Fishermen Die
No advance warning of Tuesday’s storm by the meteorologists caused the huge loss of lives and property in the coastal belt where most people depend on fishing in the Bay to earn their living, the disaster management ministry observed on Thursday (21. 09. 06). The ministry of disaster management at an emergency meeting on Thursday expressed its resentment at the weather forecast which did not mention any possibility of the sudden storm (New Age Sept. 22, 2006). The weather forecast are good for port users but to ordinary people these are unintelligible. While our disaster preparedness on the ground has been a success to a great extent we must gear up the forecasting system that will enable us to reduce deaths and destruction caused by such storms. The eight-hour gap between weather bulletins will have to be reduced to a maximum of three hours. It is our belief that given the current global awareness on natural disasters following the massive loss of life and widespread destruction caused by Tsunami, international assistance could be easily forthcoming in modernising our weather and storm warning systems.
People devastated by Tuesday’s storm in the coastal region came down heavily on the weathermen for ‘wrong reading of the sharp change in weather.’
Wajed Ali, 60, in the fishing trade from the time he was in his twenties, held the weather office responsible for the huge loss of lives and property along the coast. ‘On several occasions, I went fishing in deep sea with Signal 3 or 4 flagged. People in the coast do not bother about lower signals and work as usual in such conditions.’
‘But Tuesday’s situation could in no way be flagged with Signal 3. It should be at least Signal 9 or 10. The reading was absolutely wrong,’ the fisherman said.
‘I heard the news of Signal 3 in the afternoon and it was the same at night. The wind speed intensified at about 9:00pm. And in an hour, the landscape in the chars changed.’
‘I have been living on the coast for 30 years and faced Signal 10 several times. But none of the situations was as horrific as was Tuesday’s,’ he(fisherman Zainul) said. ‘I never saw waves 15 to 20 feet high.’
While any serious official attempt to rescue fishermen caught in Tuesday’s devastating storm was too rare to find, an eight-strong group of fishermen freed at least 50 of their fellows from the clutch of the hungry seas.
The eight fishermen led by Abdul Jalil aboard FB Nazma saved others putting their own lives at stake, hauling them on board from the raging waters.
On the darkest night of their life, the sudden change of weather scared the hell out of the eight fishermen on the fishing boat and they started a frantic return journey towards the shore about 50 kilometres away.
Within seconds, the sea became even more riotous with mountainous waves and heavy downpours blinding them so that they could not see even their own bodies.
‘I’ve never seen such darkness. I could not see even my hands,’ Jalil described.
He said although they were trying to steer the boat towards the shore but it was tough for him to determine in which direction the coast lied (New Age, September 25, 2006).
The AL (Opposition Party) president demanded formation of a parliamentary committee to investigate why fishermen were not alerted by the weathermen and why locals were not evacuated before the storm struck.
Asma did not get promised Eid Sari
Eid is the festival, when everyone get a new cloth. The most circulated Daily Newspaper "Ittefaqque" writes today (18.10. 06) from Kalapara, Patukhali that Noor Hawlader along with 70 fishermen did not return since September 17, 2006. Asmas father promised to buy a sari after his return. Asma and others in the village have fallen in a grief.
Still this village looks towards that village
Quitely trying to hear.
Sitting so still, the word so softly
.......
Over the field weeps the kolmi creeper
The lonely pea-flower weep.
Jasim Uddin The field of the embroidered quilt
LOWLANDS FLOODED IN RAJSHAHI
Heavy rains throughout the day flooded many low-lying areas of Rajshahi, Chapainawabganj, Naogaon and Natore districts. Due to a sharp rise in the water level in the Padma, a 17-kilometre stretch of the Padma Dam between Godagari and Charghat upazilas of Rajshahi was at the risk of being split open. The authorities have been dumping stone blocks and sandbags at vulnerable points to resist the surging water. Lowlands in 25 unions across six upazilas of Rajshahi and Chapainawabganj districts have gone under water.
Masuma's home is a bamboo and polythene shack in one of the hundreds of slums colonising every square metre of unbuilt land in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh.
Masuma is an environmental refugee, fleeing from the floods which have always beset her homeland but which are predicted to strike more severely with climate change. She has found her way to the city from the rural district of Bogra - a low-lying area originally formed from Himalayan silt where the landscape is still being shaped by the mighty Brahmaputra river as it snakes and carves through the soft sandy soil. "In Bogra we had a straw-made house that was nice. When the flood came there was a big sucking of water and everything went down," Masuma says.
"Water was rising in the house and my sister left her baby upon the bed. When she came back in, the baby was gone. The baby had been washed away and later on we found the body," she recalls.
Sir Nicholas' approach is criticised by some economists who argue that as climate change is beyond human control we should continue to maximise economic growth so we will be able to afford to pay for adaptation in the future. In a recent article for the Spectator magazine, former chancellor Lord Lawson argued: "Far and away the most cost-effective policy for the world to adopt is to identify the most harmful consequences that may flow from global warming and, if they start to occur, to take action to counter them." (BBC, September, 2006)
Climate fears for Bangladesh's future
Java tsunami toll at 550
An aftershock in Indonesia’s tsunami-ravaged region sent hundreds scrambling for high ground on Wednesday as the toll from Monday’s disaster climbed to 550.
Rescuers pulled bodies from the debris and aid trickled into worst-hit Pangandaran town while a search continued for about 275 people still missing after the tsunami smashed into a 300-km (185 mile) stretch of coast along southern Java.
Indonesian media questioned why there was no warning ahead of Monday’s killer waves despite regional efforts to set up early alert systems after the massive Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004.
The Jakarta Post said in an editorial the disaster agency had done ‘nothing of note to increase people’s preparedness for disasters’ . Government officials said as many as 54,000 people were displaced from wrecked fishing villages, farms and beach resorts, adding to the rehabilitation headache for authorities after an earthquake that killed more than 5,700 people in central Java less than two months earlier.
(Reuters, Pangandaran, Indonesia , July 20, 2006).
CONTENT
1. INTRODUCTION
2. FLOODS
2.1. North East India 2. 2. Floods in the Mekong basin, Himachal, Nepal
2. 3. Bangladesh- 2004
2.3.1. 20 million people in Bangladesh have been left homeless 2.3.2. Mass migration to slums of Dhaka 2.3.3 Waterborne Diseases 2. 3. 4. North East Bangladesh 2. 3. 5. Flood in Southern Coastal Districts 2. 3. 6. Trading on Human Misery 2. 4. Causes of Devastating Floods 2. 4. 1. Rapid Economic Development and Urbanisation
3. DESERTIFICATION and DROUGHT 4. WARN OF A GREAT HIMALAYAN QUAKE
5. TROPICAL CYCLONE
The floods today in 2004, therefore, are both a product of the flood control projects and also a good reason to prepare more projects in similar line. With the money taken from people's pocket, the flow of water is blocked, rivers are destroyed, the overflow of water become disastrous, water-logging become permanent, and the results are all around us.
Deforestation and soil erosion have already taken a savage toll of lives in the Indian subcontinent. As the slopes of Himalayas are cleared for habitation and agriculture, severe flooding is increasing throughout northern India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. These countries experience almost every year both severe flooding and subsequently drought. Deforestation in the Himalayas has been responsible for the flood disaster in the lower reaches of the Ganges-Brahmaputra and the higher incidence of flooding that has occurred since 1940; apparently flooding now affects some 18 x 106 ha of land as compared with 6 x 106 ha in the early 1950s A large-scale irrigation system does simplify habitat resulting in an immediate reduction in the number and species complexity of both plants and animals. With the abolish of original trees and shrubs, shaded habitats are replaced by those exposed to sunlight. The shaded habitats are replaced by those exposed to sunlight. Simplification of the habitat results in the loss of plant groupings and zonation and their replacement by a sharp transition between the crop and field boundary. Irrigation schemes directly increase the acreage of above-ground water beyond the main impoundment. Such irrigation scheme is responsible for supporting large mosquito populations capable of transmitting disease agents. The flood prevention on the other hand shows a degrading quality of crops production. It is known in industrial countries that the quality of food is seriously degraded due to the use of agrochemical. Now 80 million and 20 million population of Bangladesh and India are poisoned by ground warter arsenic contamination. Terrestrialization of the semi-aquatic landscape of Bangladesh has the principal objective of intensification of agriculture to satisfy the "need" for foodgrain self-sufficiency. Yet as the human population becomes increasingly marginialized and landless, the survival strategies of those at the bottom have increasingly fallen back upon the remaining physical and biological diversity of regional ecosystem.... In so far as the poorest of the rural poor continue to eke out these (precious) livelihoods... bio-diversity reducing hydrological manipulations will make some human lives all the more precarious..... The loss of habitats has been so significant that little can now be done to restore the balance in the areas. The issue is not just of water quantity, but of water quality and socio-economic conditions of stakeholders. It is this more complex, subtle concept of scarcity that is the basis of the analysis of the situation in rural Bangladesh. It does not have the simple attractiveness or dramatic impact of many of the more conventionally used measures, but it does have one over-riding advantage: it provides a basis for understanding local-level reality that conventional measures do not.
Bangladesh also suffered flooding during 1998 as two months of rain inundated two-thirds of the country. Officials have said the death toll from more than two months of flooding passed 1,000 and could keep rising if a looming diarrhea epidemic is not contained. Diarrhea, caused by polluted water or rotten food, accounted for 227 of the 1,040 deaths caused by the disaster, the worst flooding in Bangladesh's history, officials said. Other deaths were caused by drowning, snakebites, collapsing houses and mudslides, disaster management officials said. The floods have destroyed crops worth $300 million and damaged close to 10,000 km (6,200 miles) of roads. Flooding is a natural phenomena that will always occur on a regular basis and it is part of the cycle of a river. No matter what protection techniques are used floods will always cause damage and, with the increase of urban areas on the flood plain, more people are within the flood prone areas of the world. It is also important that with all the techniques that engineers have developed that people do not feel complacent and the river has been tamed and they are safe as this is not the case.
NEW DELHI, Aug 4:–As international aid organizations accelerate relief efforts to help millions of people stalked by hunger and disease in flood ravaged Bangladesh, they warn that the country is hovering on the brink of another devastating flood ,writes Rahul Verma of One World South Asia
With life virtually grinding to a standstill as the country faces its worst flood in the past six years, experts caution that the worst is not yet over. The United Nations organization, World Food Programme (WFP), fears Bangladesh may face a "cataclysmic" flood in mid-August, when the already-waterlogged region will fail to drain the next bout of monsoon rains. The worst is not yet over as thousands of flood victims could die of disease unless urgent precautions are taken, relief workers from the World Health Organisation and other bodies warned yesterday.
Health experts repeated their cautions against an epidemic outbreak in the deluge-ravaged areas, while an official with the United Nations, asking not to be named, told official news agency BSS (August 5, 2004): "The situation is quickly heading towards the worst and it may go beyond control." A large swath of the area inside the Dhaka-Narayanganj-Demra (DND) embankment faces permanent waterlogging because of unplanned urbanisation at the cost of proper drainage system.
Fifteen days after the heavy rains that left the area reeling under four to five feet of water, many low-lying areas are still waterlogged. Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) officials fear stagnant water might become a permanent feature of these localities. Residents of Konapara, Basherpool and Dholla do not have to wade through logged water now, but East Boxnagar, South Boxnagar and several low-lying areas such as Bank Colony, Hajinagar, Barabangha, Dogaior and southern part of Matuail of Demra are still under knee-deep water.
Moreover, Shanarpar, Nemaikashari, Bagmara, Kadaltali, Rasulbagh, Jalkuri, Bhuigarh, Delpara, Lamapara, Tusharpara, Pathantali, Godhnail and Kadamtali of Siddirganj thana in Narayanganj district are also waterlogged. The DND dam area goes under water every monsoon because of near absent drainage system, but this time around the situation became really bad because of record rainfall between September 12 and 15 (Dqaily Star, October 6, 2004).. The UN says more than two-thirds of the country (Bangladesh) is underwater and is warning of a humanitarian crisis.
(BBC, 28. 07. 04) Normal floods are considered a blessing for Bangladesh-providing
vital moisture and fertility to the soil through the alluvial silt deposition. Only abnormal floods are
considered disastrous, i.e., the high-magnitude events that inundate large areas, and cause widespread damage to crops and properties.
During the peak flow season (July, August and September), most of the rivers overflow their banks, and deposit silt on the flood plains -
providing vital moisture and fertility to the soil. Thus, the normal floods are considered a blessing for Bangladesh. Flooding in Bangladesh is a regular occurrence; about 26,000 sq. km or 18 per cent of the country is flooded every year by monsoon rains. But Bangladesh faced severe floods in 1954, 1955, 1956, 1962, 1964, 1966, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1973, 1974, 1985, 1987, 1988, and 1993. The severe 1988 floods were generated by intensive rainfall that extended over North and North East Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Bhutan, the most intense local concentrations being in Assam, Meghalaya, Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh. The Ganges and the Brahmaputra rivers drain an area inhabited by 500 million people. A tenth of the population of our planet faced the catastrophic events of 1987 and 1988 floods which led to widespread destruction, misery and loss of life. The flood in 1988 affected nearly half of the population and over 60 per cent of the net cultivable land. A joint UN/Government of Bangladesh has estimated the cost of "Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Programme" at U.S. dollars 1.1 billion. It is estimated that the food grain loss was about two million MT compared to annual food grain production in a normal year of over 12 million MT. Flood is more or less a recurring phenomenon in Bangladesh, and often within tolerable limits.
Occasionally, it becomes devastating. In 1997, 1988, 1998, and 2000, Bangladesh faced unprecedented floods, causing
massive loss of life and property During the peak flow season (July - September) most of the rivers normally overflow their banks
onto the low-lying surrounding flat land, which is essential for providing vital moisture and fertility to the soil. However, occasionally abnormal conditions lead to drainage congestion, excessive rainfall run-off, and storm-tidal surges that induce high-magnitude flooding that inundates large areas, and causes widespread damage to crops and
property. The mean annual rainfall in Bangladesh varies from about 1400 mm. in the western part of the
country, to almost 5000 mm. in the northeast region. There are wide seasonal fluctuations, with
about 90 per cent of the rainfall occurring during the four months of the monsoon period (June-
September). This is the worst flooding in recent memory with 22 of the 24 districts in Assam under floodwater," Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi told AFP.
"The high water current has washed away rows and rows of villages. The condition of the people is really devastating."
About 3.7 million people have been displaced with an estimated 3,200 villages under water, a flood control official said. The Brahmaputra River which criss-crosses the state was flowing at least 1.5 to 2.6 meters (5.00-8.25 feet) above the danger level. Several parts of the state remained cut off as floodwaters swamped highways and created craters.
Hundreds of thousands of people were taking shelter on raised bamboo stilts and on mud embankments, with some trapped on rooftops of their mud-and-straw huts. "A vast stretch of the Kaziranga National Park has come under floodwater and in some areas the water level rose to about five feet (1.5 metres)," H.K. Bhuyan, a park ranger, told AFP. Monsoon is here with all its devastating effect. Flood waters are overrunning all major habitats in adjoining Assam and the north of Bangladesh. It is indeed, ironic, that Bangladesh and India are continuing a long feud over the distribution of fresh water when it causes so much damage to both, annually. The argument for India is that the eastern part of the subcontinent and the monsoon is water-surplus while the west and the rest of the year is short of it. There is very little that can be done about nature’s ways except perhaps holding back the rain water which has been a part of culture in the western part of the subcontinent for centuries In the north-eastern Indian state of Assam, all but one of 27 districts are battling the floods, and over 100 people have died, officials say.
Millions are homeless and crops, homes and roads have all suffered huge damage. Millions of people have been badly affected and essential supplies are running low.
"There is an acute scarcity of baby food and over 500,000 babies affected during the floods are starving," Assam Health Minister Bhumidhar Burman said (BBC, 27. 07. 04). The latest floods in the Mekong basin - said to be the worst in decades - have been blamed on logging in Tibet that has left vast swaths of the Chinese-controlled region denuded of forest cover. The tragedy echoes devastating floods on the Yangtse in 1998 that prompted the Government to introduce limits on logging in the river's upper reaches. Indiscriminate tree-felling destabilises topsoil, which is washed by rain into rivers, raising the water level and diminishing the rivers' ability to absorb annual rains. "Projects to build dams and reservoirs to harness Tibet's rivers for hydro-electricity schemes to power western China have caused fragmentation of ecology and fish species and finally extinction to already endangered plant and aquatic species," the report says. More than 100 people were reported to have died in flash floods in the northern state of Himachal Pradesh earlier this week.
The River Sutlej, which runs through the state, was reported to have risen to more than 40 feet above its normal level in some places.
Dozens of bridges were washed away, leaving villages stranded. The local authorities have asked the central government for a grant of about $200m.
It has approved less than a quarter of the amount.
The Sutlej river, which normally runs in a deep gorge, overflowed in a matter of minutes. The Flora and Vegetation of Nepal The flooding inundated 40 of the 64 districts and left about 30 million people homeless or cut off. The cost of the damage to property and infrastructure was put at 6.6 billion dollars. As many as 2,59,938 people took refuge in 227 temporary shelters in the capital (Daily Star, August 2, 2004). Monsoon flooding triggered by days of torrential rains and raging torrents cascading down hills across the border marooned several lakh people, displaced many more and destroyed crops in the fields in 15 districts yesterday. At least three people including a girl drowned in floodwaters in Sherpur, Bhola and Sirajganj and fierce-flowing rivers ate metres into their banks in the northern, northeastern and southern districts, making thousands of people homeless. A man was missing after a boat capsize in Sylhet. The meager relief the flood hit people so far received was mostly distributed by some social service oriented and private organisations. Government's share in the relief operation is very negligible, as its coordination and monitoring activity have totally broken down at the field level (The Bangladesh Observer, 30 July, 2004). The prices of food items and vegetables have already been sources in the hats and bazars of the district The low-income groups of people have been worst hit by the upward swing in the prices of daily necessities of life. Janu Begum could not sleep for the last two days, as she was hungry. "I do not worry much about me but my children," she said.
Janu who lived in a slum in Mugda took shelter in a government school in Motijheel with 500 others after floodwaters submerged her shanty. "When I heard some schools were opened as shelters for flood victims, I thought I can save my other children. But now I think they will starve to death," Janu sobbed. Most flood victims have similar stories to tell. The number of flood victims is rising every day, crowding the flood shelters. Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) opened 206 shelters where at least 1,50,724 people took refuge (Sabrina Karim Murshed, 28 July, 2004). Women suffer more than men during flood Stinking water More than two million city residents are in acute drinking water crisis as supply has become contaminated with
30 water pumps of Dhaka Water and Sewerage Authority (Wasa) already inundated by rising floodwater.
Water pipelines stretching over a few hundred kilometres and many reservoirs have also gone under water, posing a serious threat to public health.
According to media reports, floods have already affected more than 50 lakh people or half the total city population. People in 18 thanas of 22 are already marooned (Daily Star, 26. 07. 04). Kabir (1997) describes in Dhaka Courier: But now it is undesbribable. Agriculture accounts for about 40 per cent of Bangladesh's GDP and about 60 per cent of employment. Landless small farmers and as well as urban informal groups constitute 50 per cent of Bangladesh's population. Fifty three per cent of rural population are virtually landless and the result of that a very large percentage of urban population live in slums. The population of Dhaka city increased by several hundred per cent in three decades (1974-2003) due to the increasing developments of landless peasants and no job in rural areas. A joint donor-government assessment yesterday put the floods damage at Tk 13,000 crore or $ 2 billion, apparently putting to rest a controversy over the damage estimate.
The assessment mission led by the World Bank (WB) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) submitted the draft report at a pre-wrap-up meeting of the mission at the Planning Commission yesterday. Finance Minister M Saifur Rahman presided over the meeting. The joint assessment has apparently put to rest a controversy over flood loss estimate by various organisations. The UNDP first came up with an astronomical damage figure of Tk 40,000 crore or about $7 billion, a figure that was also supported by the government. But an independent think-tank, the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) estimated the loss at between $1.9 and $2.5 billion (Daily Star, September 26, 2004). At railway and bus stations and launch-terminals, numerous new faces can be seen every day, as they were forced out of their villages by the devastating floods
All the 44 sluice gates of the Teesta Barrage were opened to reduce pressure of the water flowing 64 centimeters above the danger mark.
Local residents said two flood control dams at Holdibari and Banpara in Jaldhaka upazila were damaged, threatening further inundation.
UNB adds about 25,000 people were marooned in Sadar, Aditmari, Kaliganj and Hatibandha upazilas in Lalmonirhat district. Waterborne diseases are spreading fast in 25 districts because of flooding that killed at least 35 people in six days and stranded close to three million in the north and northeast.
The fast-rising floods closed hundreds of educational institutions and forced thousands of villagers to move to safety or live on their own without food and shelter "We can go without food for a couple of days but scarcity of drinking water has endangered our lives. We are now exposed to various diseases including diarrhoea," said Kanai Lal of village Chatiyan in Narayanganj. Diarrhoea attacked one-year-old Nayeem at Domepara on Friday. His mother Nargis said the saline water is being used but her son is yet to show any sign of improvement. She said the saline was prepared in water fetched from a house, located a kilometre west of Domepara.
But the water she had used looked almost black in colour. Health experts said waterborne diseases would continue to ravage the affected areas for at least the next three months while UN officials here, on condition anonymity, told BSS that Bangladesh would need more than $43 million to tackle the health crisis alone (Daily Star, August 8, 2004). The picture surely gets grimmer when one learns that medical officers at the flood-ravaged districts have reportedly treated more than one hundred thousand people with health complaints in three weeks. These figures should be enough for the concerned authorities to seriously consider intensifying medical care in the flooded villages around the country. With more than half the country under floodwater and millions homeless, the people in the submerged areas are battling against a disease that could soon turn out to be the biggest catastrophe. Lack of safe drinking water, water purifying tablets, medical supplies like ORS and other medicines only add to the woes people have been suffering since the beginning of the flood season. There have been reports about people using water from the wells without boiling or chlorinating it in any way. The prices of water purification tablets and ORS have also gone up (Daily Star, August 2, 2004). BSS reports from the affected districts reported outbreak of water-born diseases from different areas including Gazipur and Habiganj due to scarcity of pure water and collapse of sewerage systems, causing extra miseries for the flood victims.
In many areas the deluge continued to disrupt communication lines, marooning more people and damaging more infrastructures prompting more social, voluntary and international organisations to launch relief campaigns along with the government initiatives. Health officials yesterday said more than 47,000 people contracted diarrhoea in 36 districts and 31 of them died from the disease. Unofficial sources put the figure as high as a few lakh (1 lakh= 100 000).
Most of the relief centres located at remotest areas do not have adequate health-care treatment for mitigating diarrhoea and other waterborne diseases. Apart from diarrhoea, skin disease, jaundice, fever, dysentery and pneumonia have already been broken out among flood victims taken shelter at relief camps in the city and across the country. According to a source of the Health Department that the number of diarrhoea affected victims in 38 flood-hit districts has already crossed 10,000 as against 7,000 recorded twenty four hours before. On the other hand, death caused by diarrhoea now rose to 30 from 24, sources said.
Lack of coordination among the concerned bodies under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and Ministry of Disaster Management has also been surfaced in health care services to the flood victims. For this, the number of diarrhoea infected death toll is increasing as the floodwater starts to recede. (Bangladesh Observer, August 1, 2004) In recent years Bangladesh has been confronted with severe environmental degradation. Urban pollution, ground water contamination with arsenic, improper disposal of industrial, medical and household wastes have added environmental hazards in the country. Poverty leads to unhygienic and unsanitary practices that in turn cause pollution.
Massive deforestation beyond the borders of Bangladesh has a direct impact on the country as with less vegetation to absorb the rains, floods have risen to higher levels destroying agricultural crops. This year India, Nepal and Bangladesh are again in grip of floods which have caused about 900 deaths in the three countries (floods have caused about 1,000 deaths in China as well). The spread of diarrhoea and other water-borne diseases in an epidemic form in the country's flood-stricken areas looks all the more likely now. Already diarrhoea has claimed the majority of the death toll which, according to the official figure so far, is 544. Unofficial figure however is much higher. Although the health ministry officials claim as many as 3,296 government medical teams and a good number of non-government teams are working in the affected areas, reports say they are only conspicuous by their absence. Indeed, there is a connection between the receding flood-waters and the spread of the water-borne diseases. But what is not admitted is the lack of government preparation for an overwhelming situation like this (Editorial, Bangladesh Observer, August 3, 2004).
About 1,00,000 people have been affected with diarrhoea. About 7,000 were contracted the disease in the 24 hours ending Friday morning. One thousand and twenty-six people, the highest, were affected with diarrhoea on Friday in Dhaka alone
(New Age, July 31, 2004). "This is already serious, but diarrhoea outbreak will peak in the form of an epidemic as floodwaters recede," said Dr PK Bardhan, a scientist at the ICDDR,B.
He, however, said adequate supply of pure drinking water to the affected areas is now urgently needed to arrest spread of the waterborne disease. The flood shelters are hit hard by the disease because of a dearth of drinking water. Hospitals and clinics are flooding with an increased number of diarrhoea patients every day.
The situation has turned even worse as sewerage water has got stuck over almost one-third of the city, escaping into water pipelines and reservoirs.As a result many flood-hit people are compelled to drink contaminated water
(Daily Star,28 July, 2004). A Wasa (Water and Sewerage Authority) expert says the 260km network of storm sewers in Dhaka is in 'a bad shape' as city dwellers and sweepers and cleaners of Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) dump rubbish onto roads.
"The major problem is the amount of solid rubbish and dust dumped into storm sewers," a Wasa official said.
Whenever the DCC street cleaners sweep the streets, they dump all rubbish into the drains through the 'catch pits'. The catch pits as a result get blocked and the flow of rainwater into the drains is hindered. The situation has not turned that critical in other areas, but it is clear that water-logging has become a major concern for the city dwellers. In the first place, traffic congestion, a perennial problem in the city, is further aggravated. The man hours lost on the road constitute a national loss. Furthermore, the already potholed roads are being damaged by stationary water, let alone the vehicles wading heavily through them. And the least said about health hazards the better. Now, it is imperative that the reasons behind such constant water-logging are recognised and remedies found by the city engineering authorities. Digging of roads, an almost round-the-year phenomenon, contributes to water-logging, particularly because the ruptured roads are almost never put back to their original position. Then we have witnessed a lot of activities like construction and demolition of road dividers. Only experts can say how much these changes have had a bearing on water-logging, but there is no doubt that the situation is worsening day by day. Monsoon is here, much to the relief of the city dwellers. It is not good news for all, however. Large parts of the city have gone under water much to the chagrin of the dwellers of the low-lying areas. Many of the roads are water logged creating great inconvenience to traffic. The much trumpeted multi-million dollar storm sewerage system that was built in the last decade does not seem to be fully effective, although one must agree that it has had some effect That the flood is receding is welcome news but the news of the severe health hazards that the flood-affected people are facing is far from solace to us. We are concerned at the rising number of deaths due to various diseases, malnutrition, lack of adequate relief and drowning.
Admittedly, our forecasting mechanism is unable to make a long-term flood prognostication but, given that we are visited by flood almost every year, merited a contingency plan to tackle its aftereffects. Incidences of gastrointestinal disease, a consequence of unclean drinking water; respiratory disease in children, a consequence of exposure to the elements due to lack of shelter; and incidences of dengue and malaria, give us an impression that the government's measures to tackle the after-flood situation are not as exhaustive as they might be. In one twenty-four hour period two days ago, more than six hundred persons were admitted to hospitals suffering from diarrhoea alone (Editorial, Daily Star, August 3, 2004). . The incidence of snakebites has increased as flood water has entered many houses in low-lying areas in and around the Dhaka city over the past few days.
According to hospital sources, although most victims were bitten by non-poisonous victims, at least four of them died in the absence of proper treatment facilities in city hospitals.
Two hundred people were bitten by snakes last month. As in the past the correct death tolls will be never known. Raging floods that relive the memory of the 1988 devastating deluge inundated half a kilometre of rail tracks in Brahmanbaria and part of Dhaka-Aricha Road yesterday, threatening the capital's rail links to Chittagong and long-haul travels to the south by road.
Tens of thousands of people are struggling against chaos in the flood-ravaged central district of Munshiganj surrounded by three rivers rising by the day. Officials of the local administration in Bogra announced by loudspeaker that 45 kilometres of the flood control dam there are highly vulnerable to collapse as the water levels in the Brahmaputra river overtook all records.
Hundreds of people scrambled to repair the Meghna-Dhonagoda embankment in Matlab upazila in Chandpur that collapsed in part as floodwater gushed through an opening of about 100 feet spreading panic in the neighbourhood. The official death toll in flooding that has submerged half of Bangladesh rose to 202 as floodwater spread to the heart of the capital, the official news agency BSS said.
Slum dwellers living on the fringes of the city are the worst affected -- struggling to build new homes from bamboo and plastic sheeting on higher ground. People in outlying areas took to boats and rafts crafted out of banana trees for an easy access to safety. Thousands of people living their days out without medicine and drinking water were taken ill with diarrhoea in the northern, northeastern and central districts as the waterborne disease is spreading fast, according to news dispatches from different correspondents. Devastation, disease: Relief, medicine scarce Thousands queue for relief in Gaibandha It will not be wrong to say that the two previous floods, in 1988 and 1998, were more severe and more prolonged than the current one provided we do not get a second bout in mid-August. Yet, unfortunately, the impact in terms of the number of human casualties in this case is relatively higher than in the past two instances. Incidences of gastrointestinal disease, a consequence of unclean drinking water; respiratory disease in children, a consequence of exposure to the elements due to lack of shelter; and incidences of dengue and malaria, give us an impression that the government's measures to tackle the after-flood situation are not as exhaustive as they might be. The news that the government does not have adequate water purifying tablets will come as a shock to the multitudes that are suffering from lack of proper drinking water. While the government can do very little to enhance recession of flood under the present circumstances, its inability to provide the very basic necessities to keep people alive is woeful (Editorial, Daily Star, August 4, 2004). Surma-Kusyara (Syleht Basin) Floodplain:The meander flood plains of rivers include the upper Meghna,Surma, Kusyiara, Manu; Dhalat and Khowai etc. flowing from Shillong plateau included in this unit. It mainly comprises extensive, low-lying basins(the harors) bordered by relatively narrow ridges.
The region experiences some of the most extreme hydrological conditions and is prone to severe flooding. Annual rainfall ranges from 2200 mm along the western boundary to 5800 mm in its north-east corner and as high as 12,000 mm in the headwater of some catchments extending into the bordering state of India. The flooding depth is usually 3 to 5 meter but may be as deep as 6 meter in the worst case. The principal rivers of the region include the Surma and the Kushiyara which drain the eastern side of the region and, the Kangsha the western side while the rivers Kalni and Baulai drain the central basin. The loss of natural vegetation and over exploitation throgh agriculture and deforestation in the hilly area lead to regular pre-monsoon flooding, monsoon flooding and post-monsoon flooding. Stranded families in remote areas have no access to food, drinking water or adequate shelter. Waterborne diseases such as diarrhoea, dysentery and malaria are also on the increase.
In Sylhet and Sunamganj districts an estimated 40-80% of rice crops have been destroyed, spelling disaster for farming families who depend upon agriculture for their livelihoods. With over two months of monsoon rains remaining, there are fears that the worst is yet to come (BBC, july 23, 2004).. Floods rising in three Southern districts - Sea turbulent: Tentulia, Karkhana rivers swell due to low in Bay
In Barisal district, most of areas of the Hizla, Banaripara Muladi, Vandaria and Sadar upazilas have reeled under floodwater as Tentulia and Karkhana rivers swelled further as waters from the central districts rolled down but can not floe into the sea.
The situation however improved in other areas of Barisal division. At least 10 of the 30 wards of Barisal city including Tiakhali, C and B, Mallick Bari, Kazi Para, Harinafulia, Kalizira and the city outskirts are under knee deep water. Ferry operation in Kirtankhola river is often disrupted as pontoons go under water during high tide.
Ten unions of Barisal Sadar upazila and five out of the fourteen unions in Bakerganj upazila went under water. The unions include Dudhal, Faridpur, Kabai, Nalua, Durgapasha, Durgapasha and Kabai.
At least 70,000 people are marooned in Hizla, Banaripara and Muladi upazilas, according to leaders of local bodies there. Five thousand people have been affected in Vandaria upazila and Aman paddy on at least 2300 hectares damaged in Kawkhali upazila in Jhalakati district. In Patuakhali, at least 200 feet of the ring embankment at Shibbaria in Khapravanga union in Kalapara upazila have been washed away by the floodwater. About twenty thousand people are marooned in the upazila.
Nine unions in Dshmina, Baufal and Dumki upazilas and 35 shoals in the district are badly affected (Daily Star, August 7, 2004). A new phenomenon of this year’s floods is the water-borne gangsters. This has never occurred in the past. The people of this country have responded to calamities with great resolve and unprecedented unity. This is for the first time that some people are taking advantage of the human misery. The police, as usual, is saying that they do not have the logistics to face such a unique spate of crime. While criminals are innovative, the lawmen are looking for pleas (Bangladesh Observe, August2, 2004).r Director general of the NGO Bureau Mizanur Rahman blamed some organisations for claiming to have fed hundreds of families after distributing only two kilograms of rice ‘which is not fair’. A number of opposition lawmakers on Monday accused the government of deliberately leaving out their constituencies of its relief operations.
(New Age, 27 July, 2004). Most of the non-government organisations that disburse micro-credit are pressuring the borrowers to pay back their loans, instead of relief distribution to the flood-affected people.
If compared with the total number of the NGOs, enlisted with different government bodies, a very small number of them are conducting relief operation in the flood-affected areas.
1.Introduction
The Ganges-Brahmaputra- Meghna Delta Plain, the largest in the world, inhabited by a tenth of the population on our planet, is leading to a major catastrophe caused by deforestation, construction of dams, embankments, agrochemical, uncontrolled discharge of untreated municipal and industrial wastes etc. Many prohibited pollutants are directed to river waters.
The Himalayan rivers contribute one-third of the global sediment transport to the world oceans (Millman et al., 1983). Since millions of years the Bengal basin received millions of flood that created this land to the present form. With the birth of the modern Himalayan Mountains about 35 million years ago the mighty rivers drained along paleoslopes and deposited about 16-18 kilometres of thick sediments in Bangladesh. Present relative plate motion between the Indian plate and the Asian plate is apparently in a north-east-south-west direction at a rate of convergence of between 5 and 6 cm per year, also plays an important role in channel migration, erosion, deposition and overflooding in Bangladesh.
Major changes in flow patterns of the main rivers are basically related to tectonic evolution of the sub-continent. In the past, the Ganges and Brahmaputra have changed their courses several times.
Environmentally unplanned embankments all over Bangladesh, India have created more harm rather than giving protection during flooding. It may be mentioned that after each flood record crop-yield was registered in Bangladesh.
From flood to scarcity of water: re-defining the water debate
A recent study found that scarcity not excess of monsoon floodwaters appeared to be the primary concern of the majority of livelihood groups. Scarcity of floodwaters is impacting on livelihood in multiple ways that include:
A need to re-think the prevalent paradigm in Bangladesh from how to cope with too much water in monsoon (i.e., flood) to how to cope with lack of water in future (Chadwick, M.; Soussan, J.G.; Alam, S.S.; Mallick, D., 1997).
Another devastating flood may follow: Experts
"We have to be vigilant," says the WFP Country Representative in Dhaka, Douglas Casson Coutts. "What we have seen so far is as bad as any floods in Bangladesh have been. But there may be worse to come, and we need to be ready," he says.
The New York-based UN Children's Fund (UNICEF ) says sewerage systems in cities including the Bangladesh capital, Dhaka, have collapsed. About 1.5 million people - including children - are camping in refugee shelters.
Among the diseases stalking an estimated 25 million people affected by the floods are an acute respiratory infection, diarrhea, watery dysentery, jaundice, typhoid and scabies.
World organizations stress that Bangladesh is exposed to epidemics because of filthy water. Reports say emergency medical teams from Bangladesh and neighboring India are treating thousands of people in Dhaka who fell ill after drinking contaminated water.
The July floods have ruined food stocks and, as WFP points out, removed sources of nutrition and income. A statement issued by the organization stresses that fish and poultry farms have been flooded. There is a distress sale of livestock as there is no fodder available for the animals.
The UN body stresses that it is concerned about food security in Bangladesh. "Even though people in Bangladesh are used to grappling with flood damage every year, they will need a lot of help this year in recovering their household stability and preparing for the next planting season," Coutts says. "The international community must not forget about the enormous problems here after the disaster images fade from the TV screen."
(Bangladesh Observer, August 5, 2004).New Flood, September 2004
Only a couple of weeks since Dhakaites recovered from a prolonged flood, another rain-borne flood hit Dhaka on September 13. The three-day long heavy shower caused serious waterlogging in the city, yet again. For three days, life came to a virtual standstill. People were forced into self-imprisonment, business came to a halt, and acute crisis of drinking water made life unbearable. Waterlogging, once thought to be a problem only for a few low-lying areas in Dhaka, has suddenly threatened to become a regular event in the rainy season. Could this waterlogging have been avoided? What can we do to protect Dhaka from getting waterlogged in the future ?, (Daily Star, September 24, 2004). Dhaka-Narayanganj-Demra (DND) Embankment - Permanent Waterlogging
2.Floods
2.1. North East India
Massive flooding brought new death and disruption to northeast India yesterday and also threatened a national park famous for its rare one-horned rhinoceros population (July 14, 2004).
The 430-square-kilometre (266-square-mile) park east of Assam's principal city of Guwahati is home to the world's largest concentration of one-horned rhinoceros.
There are an estimated 1,600 rhinos at Kaziranga out of a total world population of some 2,300.
"Herds of elephants, deer, wild buffaloes and rhinos from the park are migrating to an adjoining hill for safety," another park official said.
Some 70 animals, including rhinos and wild buffaloes, were drowned by flooding in the sanctuary last year. Drinking water
The BBC's Subir Bhaumik, who is in the state, says the air force has been airlifting supplies of fresh drinking water.
"We will sleep in the open, we will do everything on the road but if we don't have drinking water, we will perish," one woman told him.
Bihar state has also been badly hit - the authorities say 225 people have died in heavy rains this month (BBC, July 23, 2004).
2. 2. Floods in the Mekong basin
Himachal Pradesh
Nepal
In Nepal, the authorities say more than 100 people are feared dead following torrential monsoon rain and landslides over the past two months.
The Nepalese Home Minister, Govinda Raj Joshi, said more than 100 people are missing as a result of the floods, and most of these are feared to have died.
Thousands of others have been displaced, and hundreds of hectares of farm land has been washed away.
The damage caused by this year's monsoon rains has been more severe than in previous years.
Environmentalists say deforestation in hill areas is the one of main causes of flooding throughout the South Asia region.
Rainforest Destruction from Himalayas to Coastal Areas
2. 3. Bangladesh- 2004
2.3.1. 20 million people in Bangladesh have been left homeless:
Residents of the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka are trying to build up defences against rising floodwaters which have already covered 40% of the city.
Nearly three-quarters of the country is under water, and more than 200 people are reported to have died.
Across the whole of South Asia, more than 550 people have been killed as a result of monsoon flooding since June.
Although the Ganges and Meghna rivers have begun to recede upstream in India, forecasts predict heavy rain to come.
At least 20 million people in Bangladesh have been left homeless.
She tried to stay the last minute out in her shanty enduring all woes but left when one of her children drowned in floodwaters at the dead of night.
(BBC, 25 July, 2004)
We wonder whether Dhaka is the dirtiest, most mismanaged and polluted capital city of the world. It appears that there is no law and order, no discipline and decency in the public roads.. Dhaka is a city of melancholy contrast wherein a few people live and work in air-conditioned houses and offices, travel by expensive cars of latest model, hold meetings and seminars and have feast and festivals at luxurious hotels and majority of the people live in slums and pass their lives in absolutely poverty deprived of even basic civic amenities like water supply, sanitation and electricity...
The ordeal of a water-logged city
No alleviation measures in sight
Why the city roads go under knee-deep water even after a moderate rainfall remains an annoying question in the minds of the citizens. The water-logging in the main thoroughfares disrupts normal life with vehicles and pedestrians getting stranded for hours. The already heightened traffic congestion is rendered intolerably worse.
The media has been crying hoarse in a bid to draw the attention of the city fathers to the problem but the latter's apathy only adds insult to the injury. The way water-logging has exacerbated in the city year after year would have provided sufficient ground for citizens' groups elsewhere to press public demands for an early solution to the problem or face condemnation. Unfortunately, no political party talks of the problem, they being distracted by high sounding political issues.
Why do city roads suffer from water-logging after a little rain? To quote some officials of the Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority, it was only slightly over 85 millimeters of rainfall on last Saturday, but that is not enough to flood the roads the way it did. So, what went wrong? The answer lies in the encroachment and filling up of the natural drainage sources like the numerous canals that crisscrossed the city once, and the moribund condition of the underground and surface drainage systems. While last year there was much ado about reclaiming some of those canals from the hands of the encroachers, the Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) suddenly stopped the drive.
The water-logging problem has to be addressed on both a short-term and long-term basis. What is imperative at the moment is to set up a taskforce during the rainy months whose job it will be to arrange for contingency pumping of water out to a safer zone and brick-soling the pot-holed roads so that transports can move unstuck on them. The authorities will also have to make the storm sewers operational through removing all materials that clog these outlets.
On the long-term side, we need to make the moribund canals within the city area and on its periphery operational. Secondly, the encroachments on the river banks must be removed so that the excess water can find its way into the larger rivers.
Unless the challenge is responded to on a national footing we have a serious problem lying in store for us in the shape of a more dysfunctional city (Editorial, Daily Star, September 25, 2006).
2.3.2. Mass migration to slums of Dhaka
Displaced streaming into city
Ayesha Begum, 36, who abandoned her submerged home in Sirajganj, managed a tiny room at a flood shelter in Bashabo. She, along with her husband and their 8-year-old daughter Aklima, came to Dhaka a week ago and spent two nights at Kamalapur Railway Station.
"We have nowhere to go. We have finally come here after roaming many places and spent two nights without food or water," Ayesha said.
Desperate for a job, her farm worker husband Abul Kashem, 46, was out of the shelter and Ayesha does not know when he will be back. "He will grow mad if he does not find some food today. How can a child spend days without food," she asked.
"If we stay in Dhaka, we will be able to find some baby food but there is nothing back at home."
Ayesha's is not a one-off story. Displaced people moved into the city because of the raging floodwaters that blighted two-thirds of Bangladesh.
Because of the floods, Dhaka has to provide shelters for new comers while the city is already overburdened with more than 13 million people. "Poor people have been coming to the city in search of jobs for long. Now the numbers will increase as they are driven by the deluge," a university student said.
The floodwaters left more than 30 million people homeless or cut off in 47 districts, while about five million people are affected in the capital.
The inflow of displaced people to the city is up. They are rushing to the capital like floodwaters. Most are living under flimsy shelters built with plastic sheeting on sidewalks and pavements.
(Daily Star, August 1, 2004)
People in their swamped villages in Nilphamari, Gaibandha, Kurigram, Lalmonirhat, Rangpur, Bhola, Barisal, Bogra, Sherpur, Faridpur, Rajbari, Sirajganj, Sunamganj, Sylhet and Moulvi Bazar reeled under food, drinking water and medicine crisis. 
The flood situation in Bogra worsened because of heavy rains and rising waters in the Jamuna and Bangali rivers.
Reports of Sylhet correspondent say: The floods in badly-affected Sylhet remained unchanged with inundation of new areas in Jakiganj, Beanibazar and Fenchuganj upazilas and rivers flowing above the danger mark.
Abdul Momin drowned in a remote rain-fed water-body in Dharmapasha upazila in Sunamganj on Monday and a young man died in Chhatak upazila and two others, including a minor boy, in Jaintapur the same day.
2.3.3. WATERBORNE DISEASES
"We have no choice but to take floodwater for the last 20 days. We are not getting water purifying tablets in the locality," said Solaiman of Keodala village (August 1, 2004).
She said, “The water of the tube-well was of that colour at the time of collection.”
“We do not bother whether the water is good, because we can hardly get any drinking water,” said Rahmat Ali at Begunbari Katherpool. He told New Age that of about 100 tube-wells in the village, only four still remain above the water level
(New Age, August 1, 2004).
WATERBORNE DISEASES Responsible pathogen
Route of exposure Mode of transmission
Cholera Vibrio cholerae bacteria l gastro-intestina
often waterborne
Botulism
Clostridium botulinum bacteria Clostridium botulinum bacteria
food/water borne; can grow in food
Typhoid
Salmonella typhi bacteria
gastro-intestinal
water/food borne
Hepatitis A Hepatitis A virus
gastro-intestinal
gastro-intestinal
Dysentery
Shigella dysenteriae bacteria or Entamoeba histolytica amoeba
gastro-intestinal
food/water
Cryptosporidiosis
Cryptosporidium parvum protozoa
gastro-intestinal
waterborne; resists chlorine
Polio
polioviruses
gastro-intestinal
exposure to untreated sewage; may also be waterborne
Giardia Giardia lamblia protozoa gastro-intestinal waterborne
Hospitals fill with diarrhoea patients:
Diarrhoea outbreak has taken a serious turn in the city's flood-hit areas and experts fear the worst will come when the floodwaters recede.
Sources at the International Centre for Diarrhoea Diseases Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B), popularly known as Mohakhali Cholera Hospital, said 475 patients, most of them children, were admitted to the centre yesterday. Only the previous day, the number was 441.
They said diarrhoea patients are increasing every day.The big risk is epidemics
The victims of Bangladesh's floods are surviving for now, the death toll has been remarkably low, but every day their situation becomes more precarious.
"I think it will be dangerous if it continues for long because people will be suffering," said Mustafizur Rahman, deputy commissioner of Munshiganj.
"They have no shelter, their crops are damaged and there are health hazards. We are endeavouring to protect them but it is not sufficient. If it continues for long it will be very hard for us to protect them."
Snakebite incidents rise as flood water swells
Last week about 50 people, mostly women and children, were admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital with snakebites.
The victims were bitten at home and mostly during daytime.
The hospital records show, the patients came from Hazaribagh, Azimpur, Rampura, Badda, Kamalapur, Goran, Rajabazar, Mirpur, Banani and Gulshan in the city, and Kamrangirchar, Keraniganj, Savar and Tongi on the outskirts.
A large number of snakebite victims also came from Gazipur and Narayanganj.
Mehdi Hasan, a six-year-old boy of Manda in Badda, said he had been bitten by a large snake inside his bedroom and added that the serpent slipped away after biting his right foot. Mehdi was under observation at the DMCH paediatric ward.
“Snakebites kill a large number of people during monsoon in the country every year, but unfortunately, there were no adequate facilities for treating snakebite patients in government hospitals in the country, not even at the hospital,” said Professor FM Siddiqui of medicine at Dhaka Medical College.
Last month he treated two patients, who had been bitten by poisonous snakes, but could not save one of them. He had to borrow anti-snake venom from one of his colleagues as it was unavailable in the market.
He said snakebite incidences increase during flood because flood water reduces land area and flushes out snakes from underground dens.
The snakes while seeking shelter on higher grounds frequently encounter people, which results in snakebites.
Dr Anwar Ullah, a medical officer of Ward 3 at the DMCH, said most patients had been bitten by non-venomous snakes.
Some patients also come to hospital, taking injuries from sharp objects for snakebites, he added. “We discharge such patients after first aid and keep snakebite victims in hospital for 24 hours for observation.”
Doctors are facing difficulties to treat patients, bitten by venomous snakes, as antidotes are not available in the market.
An intern of the Ward 4 of the DMCH said last month one patient was referred to the hospital from the Mymensingh Medical College Hospital. He died because of delay in starting treatment in Mymensingh and in Dhaka.
Only the Chittagong Medical College Hospital is equipped with facilities for treating poisonous snakebites.
Professor M Abid Hossain, head of paediatrics, said it was impossible to prevent snakebite incidents during flood as people and snakes compete for shelter.
Health workers in flood affected areas should be trained to give first aid to snakebite patients and refer them to nearby hospitals. Tying tight ligatures proximal to the bite spots is not at all recommended, Abid said.
An estimated 10,000 people are bitten by snakes every year and the mortality rate is as high as 20 per cent.
There were 28 different species of venomous snakes including 12 species of sea snakes.
As public hospitals are not adequately equipped with logistics and trained manpower for managing life threatening venomous snakebites, people mostly rely on traditional healers
(New Age, 31 July, 2004).
1. Mosquitoes droning menacingly in Dhaka Bangladesh
2. Malaria strikes capital Dhaka Bangladesh
3. Dengue menace lurking in the wings
Official death toll 202
More than seven lakh people have been forced to take refuge in 1,752 makeshift flood shelters in the 35 districts while more others have been marooned or have taken shelter elsewhere.
The deluge completely eroded 5,630 kilometres of roads, partly damaged 21,844 kilometres of roads and destroyed 2,089 bridges and culverts.
The official statistics said the flood killed at least 4,000 cattle, destroyed standing crops on 7,27,697 acres of land and partly damaged yields on 1,165,790 acres.
Thousands are awaiting relief on Brahmaputra Flood Control Embankment and other high places while over five lakh families are still marooned in flood affected areas of Gaibandha.
They need cooked food and drinking water as most of them have no firewood and cooking utensils, many told this correspondent during a visit on Monday.
"We are passing the daytime any how but sun set brings nightmare as we have no candle or lantern", said Nazly of Ghar Rahamtpur in Fulohari upazila, now on the Brahmaputra Flood Control Embankment.
"Where will we go? I looked on as the Brahmputra washed away my dwelling", said Hafizur of Daltipara village in Gaibandha Sadar upazila (Daily Star, 28 July, 2004)..
2. 3. 4. North East Bangladesh
Vast haor area is covered by crops threatened by regular floods
The open water and the closed water bodies inclusive of haors, baors and beels are respectively of 40,47,000 ha and 3,51,000 ha totaling 43,98,000 ha that comprise 30 percent of the total surface area of Bangladesh. Haors (wetlands) are clustered in the north-east region and are large bowl-shaped flood plain depressions. The north-east region is one of the eight such distinct and defined units that hydrologically zone the entire country. Its area is estimated at 24,200 square kilometer i.e. 17.50 percent of the country's total land surface.The principal rivers of the region include the Surma and the Kushiyara which drain the eastern side of the region and, the Kangsha the western side while the rivers Kalni and Baulai drain the central basin.Food Crisis
2. 3. 5. Flood in Southern Coastal Districts
Fresh areas in Barisal, Jhalakathi and Patuakhali districts including parts of the district towns were flooded in the last two days as waters rolling down from the central districts can not recede due to a low in the Bay and the turbulent sea.
The floodwater continued to rise yesterday.
Meteorological Department officials said yesterday that the low could turn into a depression and cross over Orissa in India but may cause downpour in Bangladesh. The sea is very rough because of the low, they said.
2. 3. 6. Trading On Human Misery
Micro-credit and NGOs
New Age has learnt that the number of the local and the national level NGOs are continuing to press, either directly or indirectly, the flood-hit micro-credit borrowers to pay back their loans.
Rahima Begum, a flood victim of Kadamtala in the city, said she had paid her BRAC loan instalment during the flood as she felt an indirect pressure to repay loan. "If I fail, I will have to lose my eligibility for receiving any loan in future," she said.
Flood victims Renu Begum of Mugda and Nazma Begum of Madinabagh Lane said although they tried their best to remain regular in paying instalments of the ASA, they failed for two weeks.
"The field officer did not put pressure on me but I will pay two instalments together this week as my failure to repay loans will be considered as non-cooperation," said Renu Begum, who took shelter at Haider Ali High School at East Manda.
Meanwhile, the Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha, a state-owned news agency, reported that the loan officers of the NGOs, including the Bangladesh Rural
Development Board, have been moving door to door of the marooned borrowers by boats to realise the instalments that have put extra burden on the flood victims.
Besides, a number of the NGO field workers, preferring not to be named, said their salaries had been held up for failure to realise the instalments of micro-credit. (New Age, August 15, 2004).