Chief lesson from Cyclone Aila

There is no alternative to building strong embankments

Editorial, The Daily Star, June 1, 2009

THE most important lesson which can be drawn from Cyclone Aila, which last week hit south-western Bangladesh, is that a comprehensive programme regarding the construction and maintenance of embankments needs to be put in place. It is an issue about which the inhabitants of cyclone-prone areas are acutely aware, for they themselves have been demanding that more than anything else it is strong embankments they need. In effect, what they have been saying is that if they have embankments to protect themselves, they can take care of everything else.

That is certainly a forceful argument. Cyclone Aila has patently demonstrated the afflictions that can result from weak embankments. In this past week, survivors of the disaster have suffered badly from the salinity which has not only stopped their sources of clean drinking water but has also damaged crops, cattle and homesteads. They would have been spared such an ordeal if purposefully built embankments had been there. As it is, following Sidr in November 2007, not much of repair work was done on the embankments and indeed hardly any new ones were built as a precaution against subsequent natural disasters. Besides, the embankments that were there (most of them have been damaged or washed away by Aila) were fragile because the materials used to construct them were not expected to withstand shocks. It is regrettable but true that embankments in Bangladesh have by and large been built of mud. Small wonder then that they will collapse in the face of a strong assault by the forces of nature. Again, in many instances the heights of the embankments did not conform to accepted standards or standards that reflected the realities in Bangladesh.

In light of the collapse of the embankments caused by Cyclone Aila, it becomes important that serious, meaningful steps be taken to repair the damage caused last week, raise the existing height of the embankments and where necessary build new ones. A special task force may be set up to study the present condition of the embankments, to take stock of them as it were, and follow it up by taking measures to construct more lasting embankments to deal with future calamities. As an additional measure towards securing the embankments, an overall, well-thought out plan for a green belt along the coastline ought to be put in place. The bottom line is simple: the future, when it comes to dealing with natural calamities, should not be a repeat of the past.

Govt halts agricultural loan repayment collection in Aila-hit areas

The Daily Star (Online Report), June 1, 2009

The cabinet today directed the state-owned banks and financial institutions to suspend collection of agriculture loan repayments in the Aila-hit areas until further notice.

The government also decided to keep open the disaster management control rooms at upazila level round the clock, said Abul Kalam Azad, press secretary to the prime minister, after a cabinet meeting.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina presided over the meeting.

The cabinet assigned two ministers, one adviser to the prime minister, one state minister and Khulna city mayor to oversee the relief activities in the cyclone-hit areas.

Health Minister AFM Ruhal Haque will work in Satkhira district, Economic Affairs Adviser to the prime minister Dr Mashiur Rahman and Khulna City Mayor Talukdar Abdul Khalek in Khulna district, LGRD Minister Jahangir Kabir Nanak in Barisal district and State Minister for Religious Affairs Md Shahjahan Miah in Patuakhali district.

The cabinet decided to reconstruct the damaged embankments in the costal area as soon as possible.

Aila after Sidr

Audity Falguni*, The Daily Star, June 1, 2009

THE Bay of Bengal, a northern and extended arm of the Indian Ocean and covering about 510,000 square km, is probably the “rebellious daughter” of the ocean who often turns too angry and smashes the lives of thousands along its huge coastlines particularly in the months of May and October each year. Actually, the coast of Bangladesh is known as a zone of multiple vulnerabilities. It is prone to severe natural disasters, such as cyclones, storm surges, and floods.

The death toll from Cyclone Aila rose to 121; 800 wounded and at least 58,450 domestic animals killed (The Daily Star report — May 27, 2009). The report quoting the disaster management ministry informs that at least 30 lakh people in 352 unions and 62 upazilas in 14 districts have been affected by the cyclone. Thankfully the level of damage was far less than Sidr in November last year.

Approximately 3,447 deaths were blamed on the storm according to governmental sources. Agencies like Save the Children or Red Crescent Society claimed the number of deaths to be within 5,000 to 10,000 in Sidr. A total of two million people had to take recourse in the emergency shelters. About a quarter of the world heritage site Sundarbans (the tropical mangrove forest) was damaged and it would take 40 years to recover itself from the catastrophe. Sidr was the strongest cyclone to hit Bangladesh since the cyclone of 1991.

Records of the last 200 years show that at least 70 major cyclones have hit the coastal belt region of our country. Some examples of severe tropical cyclones are the Barisal cyclone of 1584, the Bakerganj cyclone of 1876, the May 1985 Urir Char cyclone, the November 1970 cyclone and the Great cyclone of 1991. The November 12, 1970 cyclone hit the coastal districts severely, particularly those in the southwest. The official death figure was 1,70,000, but unofficial estimates were as high as 500,000. An area of about 8,100 km was affected. 400,000 houses, 3,500 schools and 20,000 fishing boats were destroyed and half a million tons of food grains were lost. The Great Cyclone of 29 April, 1991 caused an estimated 140,000 deaths, over 85% of them in just 5 upazilas, but more than 10 million people in 102 upazilas in Chittagong, Noakhali and Cox’s bazaar were affected (1).

The total population in the coastal zone amounts to 35.08 million, male population being 17.9 million and female 17.1 million (BBS, 2003) living in 6.8 million households in 19 districts comprising of 147 upazilas in the coastal zone of Bangladesh. The total number of coastal population increased from only 8.1 million a century earlier. Agricultural laborer, small farmer, fishermen and urban poor make up 70% of the 6.85 million households in coast and the coastal population is projected to grow to about 41.8 million in 2015 and 57.9 million in 2050. The extent of poverty is relatively high compared with the remaining part of Bangladesh: 52% are poor and 24% are extreme poor.

Of the coastal population, 49.1 percent are female and 41% of the total population is below 15 years of age. Of 6.8 millions households in the coastal area, the number of female headed households stand at about 3.4 million, higher than the national average of 2.37 (BBS, 2003) millions. While both poor men and women in the coast have a common legacy of poverty and insecurity, the poor woman is poorer than the poorest man. Rate of severe malnutrition among girl children in comparison to the boy children is also higher than the national average.

The state of reproductive health among coastal women is worse than elsewhere in Bangladesh. Violence against women is a common phenomenon in the coastal area including domestic violence, rape and sexual abuse, trafficking and acid threats. Frequent sea cyclones-tornados-floods often make millions of coastal people homeless and women become the worst victim of the natural disasters. Relief and rescue workers recorded lots of incidents during the last Sidr whereupon women in the marooned areas have been raped, allured to be trafficked or get engaged in prostitution for food, safe drinking water or shelter.

If we turn our glance to the indigenous people living in coastal regions of the country, we would note that relief and rescue operations particularly at government level reaches the indigenous people last. This contributor herself recorded allegations by religious and ethnic minorities from the Sidr devastated areas on 2007 that relief reaches them very rare. In the coastal areas, Bengalees are the dominant ethnic community, comprising more than 99% of the population.

According to the 1991 census, there are 0.2 million people belonging to the minority ethnic communities living in the coastal zones including the Rakhaines, Pundra-Khatrio, Munda and Mahato. The Rakhaines are the largest indigenous community in the coastal region particularly in the Kolapara upazila of the Patuakhali district, Sadar and Amtali upazila of Barguna district and Ukhia and Teknaf thanas of the Cox’s Bazar district. The Rakhaines had undergone severe damages during last Sidr with little relief and rescue supports and in the aftermath of AILA there does not seem to be any exceptional either.

Although there are a total number of 92 relevant laws regarding disaster management and well-being of the coastal regions of Bangladesh, it is yet to be decided that a separate “coastal zone regulations” would be relevant to enact in Bangladesh as has been done in some other countries. The Program Development Office for Integrated Coastal Zone Management Plan (PDO-ICZMP) has recently prepared a “Compendium on the Laws Relating to and/or having Bearing on Coastal Areas” (PDO-ICZMP, 2004: Where Land Meets the Sea, page 233), it is yet to be approved at government policy level. Recurring natural disasters along the coast-lines of Bangladesh warns the nation to adopt a frame-work of policy guidelines relating to techniques of disaster management and economic rehabilitation programs focusing on poor, women and indigenous people in the coastal area unanimously.

*Audity Falguni is a development activist and freelance writer.

Email: a_falgun@yahoo.com

1 – Where Land Meets the Sea: A Profile of the Coastal Zone of Bangladesh, edited by M.Rafiqul Islam, UPL July 2004 (pg 78-79).

Hungry, they wait for help: Jhapa village still under water; survivors’ sufferings know no bound

Wasim Bin Habib, from Satkhira, The Daily Star, June 1, 2009

An elderly woman waiting in line for relief materials at Sripur of Pratapnagar in Assasuni upazila of Satkhira yesterday tries to have a better look at how long the queue is.Photo: Anisur Rahman

“My time has come, perhaps I will die this time round.”

Sixty-five-year-old Santosh Mondol let out a sigh as he spoke the words.

In the tiny makeshift shack he has managed to put up on the damaged embankment in Jhapa village, his future didn’t look good.

Like other Aila affected people in the village, Santosh too has lost his house and entire life’s belongings. With the few kilograms of rice he could salvage, a few utensils and his cattle, he has followed the other survivors to shelter on the embankment — the only place not submerged under water.

Staring blankly at the Kholpetua river– once the lifeline of the village — and now the reason behind their fate, Santosh doesn’t know if he can start all over again.

The old man is not alone in his miseries. But that is no consolation for him, or any other survivor of Cyclone Aila. They barely have anything to eat and almost nothing to look forward to.

A small village with around 2,675 people, Jhapa under Shyamnagar upazila, stands on the banks of river Kholpetua. The villagers are poor people who earned a living working as labourers at the shrimp enclosures in the area.

The entire village is now under waist deep water, survivors from Jhapa, as well as villages as far as Pakhimara to Choddoroshi, have sought shelter on the 12 km long embankment stretch.

Some help has arrived for the villagers in the form of food but the lack of safe drinking water in this heat, and sanitation facilities have led to worse crises. On top of this, robbers come in boats at night to snatch away their few remaining belongings.

“We work the whole day, trying to keep up this makeshift shacks and get food and water for our families. Then at night we cannot sleep in fear of robbers, what will become of us?” asked Kalipada Mondol.

Robbers have already looted on Chittaranjan Mridha’s house on Saturday night and taken away his last possessions. They also looted the houses of Bikash Chandra Mridha in Jhapa village and Nurul Islam in Patakhali a day ago.

Anju Rani Mridha, 16, said she hasn’t slept in days from fear of the robbers.

“The fear sets in as soon as the sun goes down,” the young girl said in quiet voice. “Where can we go?”

The men have taken to guarding the embankment in turns at night.

“We would be grateful if the law enforcing agencies patrol the river at night,” they said.

Swapna Rani Mondol has little time to worry as she has young ones to feed. She showed this correspondent the rotten rice she was trying to dry on the embankment for her children.

“The rotten rice stinks. Tell me brother, can anyone eat this rotten lot? And with just salt to go with it? ” she asked.

She forced her younger child to eat this rice, though he refused because of the stench, and he ended up with severe diarrhoea.

The survivors say they urgently need drinking water and security.

Kishore Raptan, an advocate with the Khulna Bar, said the tubewells in the cyclone shelter are not working and the villagers are forced to drink dirty water.

Only one of the tubewells in the villages works but it pumps out salty water as the village is still partially under salty water. The water levels rise with the high tide and enter the villages through the five broken points in the embankment.

Prashanta Kumar, head master of Uttar Jhapa Registered Primary school, said many people took shelter at the school and cyclone shelter as they fear the damaged embankment might collapse if another storm lashes.

Many people have left the area for the same, he said.

The embankment was badly damaged at five separate points during the cyclone and now is overcrowded with hundreds of people.

Jhapa Union Parishad Member Swapan Kumar Gain said every one of the inhabitants of this union was affected by the cyclone.

He said the helpless villagers were trying to repair the smaller cracks on the embankment but repairing the larger ones was beyond them.

He said the helpless survivors have no option but to wait for the government to come to their rescue.

They just hope it will come before more parts of the embankment give away.

Aila ravages shrimp farms in Satkhira

Tk 109 crore fish loss estimated

Wasim Bin Habib with Abu Ahmed, from Satkhira, The Daily Star, June 1, 2009

A shrimp farmer in Pratapnagar of Assasuni upazila in Satkhira tries to salvage his shrimp enclosures, which are inundated daily as seawater flows into the enclosures through embankment breaches made by cyclone Aila. Photo: Anisur Rahman

Thousands of shrimp and freshwater fish farmers in Satkhira suffered a setback as cyclone Aila washed away most of the shrimp enclosures and water bodies in the area.

At least 7,117 shrimp enclosures on 26,028 hectares of land in six unions were ravaged by fierce tidal surge on May 25 when Aila ripped through the country’s southwestern part.

Now many shrimp farmers who lost their homes and belongings in the cyclone have to shoulder the burden of huge loss.

The district fisheries office put the total loss of shrimp at Tk 93.21 crore and that of freshwater fish at Tk Tk 16.30.

Abdul Wadud, district fisheries officer-in-charge, told The Daily Star that about 2,707 tonnes of shrimp and 3,107 tonnes of freshwater fish were washed away by tidal surge that breached the embankments at many points.

“Shrimp fries worth around Tk 3.90 crore were washed away in the cyclone while the loss of shrimp and damage to shrimp enclosures has been estimated at Tk 93.21 crore and Tk 24.39 crore,” he said.

There are about 25,381 shrimp enclosures on 57,956.75 hectares of land in the district from where shrimp worth around Tk 12,000 crore are exported every year.

Wadud said the loss of freshwater fish has been estimated at Tk 16.30 crore as about 4,031 ponds on 428 hectares of land were washed away in the cyclone.

Shrimp is cultivated in six of the seven upazilas in the district. Of the 7,117 ravaged shrimp enclosures, 3,361 are in Shyamnagar upazila, 1,891 in Assasuni upazila, 1,450 in Kaliganj upazila, 250 in Tala upazila, 150 in Satkhira Sadar and 15 in Debhata upazila.

SM Nurul Alam, a shrimp cultivator and former chairman of Anulia union, told The Daily Star that he has to incur a huge loss as his seven shrimp enclosures on 1,300 bighas of land in the coastline of Gabura union were completely washed away by tidal surge.

“I have been farming shrimp and other fish worth around Tk 1 crore in my enclosures since January. But all were washed away by tidal surge,” he said.

“Now nothing is left except my house in Satkhira,” he claimed.

Nurul Alam said he sold shrimp and other fish worth around Tk 10-12 crore last year.

“I don’t know how long it will take to recover the loss,” he added.

Nurul Alam said tidal surge washed away his shrimp enclosures on around 250 bighas of land at Kalyanpur village under Pratapnagar union.

He said he took a loan of Tk 8 crore from Assasuni branch of Janata Bank for shrimp cultivation.

“I have paid Tk 18 lakh for leasing land and spent Tk 13 lakh on shrimp farming,” said the shrimp cultivator adding that had Aila not hit the district, he would have done a business of Tk 60-65 lakh.

Md Aktaruzzaman Mukul, a shareholder of several shrimp enclosures, said the cyclone damaged their shrimp enclosures on 180 bighas of land at Chakla village under Assassuni upazila.

He said they paid Tk 9 lakh for leasing lands and had been cultivating shrimp and freshwater fish by investing about Tk 5-7 lakh since January.

“Had Aila not ravaged the enclosures, we could have made a profit of Tk 5-6 lakh”, Mukul said.

“Natural disasters wreak havoc in the district almost every year but the damaged embankments need to be repaired immediately to protect it from widespread destruction,” he added.