The devastating floods

Engineering adaptations to climate change that have been successful in other nations—such as the dikes constructed in the Netherlands—won’t work in Bangladesh because the soils are sandy and constantly shifting

The full monsoon started quite early this year, the downpour starting from late January which intensified during the summers. A number of rivers started flowing above the danger level since May/June. We are now probably going to witness one of the major floods almost to the level of 1988.
Bangladesh lies at the bottom of the Ganges, the Brahmaputra and the Meghna G river system. Bangladesh is watered by a total of 57 trans-boundary rivers flowing to it: 54 from neighbouring India and three from Myanmar. The country, which has no control of water flows and volume, drains to the Bay of Bengal. Coupled with the high level of widespread poverty and increasing population density, limited adaptive capacity and poorly funded, ineffective local governance have made the region one of the most adversely affected on the planet. There are an estimated one thousand people in each square kilometre, with the national population increasing by two million people each year. Almost half the population is in poverty (defined as purchasing power parity of US$1.25 per person a day). The population lacks the resources to respond to natural disaster as the government has very limited resources to help them. Sea surface temperatures in the shallow Bay of Bengal have significantly increased, which, scientists believe, has caused Bangladesh to suffer some of the fastest recorded sea level rises in the world. Storm surges from more frequent and stronger cyclones push walls of water 50 to 60 miles up the Delta’s rivers. At the same time, melting of glaciers and snowpack in the Himalayas, which hold the third largest body of snow on Earth, has swollen the rivers that flow into Bangladesh from Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan, and India. So too have India’s water policies. India diverts large quantities of water for irrigation during the dry season and releases most water during the monsoon season. A three-foot rise in sea level would submerge almost 20 percent of the entire country and displace more than 30 million people. Some scientists project a five-to-six foot rise by 2100, which would displace perhaps 50 million people. As perspective, the ongoing tragedy in Syria has caused the exodus of approximately three million people. Already, the intruding sea has contaminated groundwater, which supplies drinking water for coastal regions, and degraded farmland, rendering it less fertile and eventually barren. It is not just people who are affected. The Sundarbans, the largest mangrove forest in the world and a World Heritage Site, lies in the delta of the Ganges River in Bangladesh and India. Home to the iconic Bengal tiger, the Sundarbans also play a critical role in protecting Bangladesh’s coastal areas from storm surges caused by cyclones.

Engineering adaptations to climate change that have been successful in other nations—such as the dikes constructed in the Netherlands—won’t work in Bangladesh because the soils are sandy and constantly shifting. The government has undertaken measures to adapt to climate change. It has developed an effective early warning system to alert coastal rural areas of impending cyclones; built a network of 2,100 cyclone shelters, which can accommodate more than a million people; and financed 4,000 miles of coastal embankment projects. It is even planting trees on chars in an effort to create islands that are more durable. However, despite its economic progress, Bangladesh remains a poor country with limited resources. Some measures, such as levees made of sand bags along the Bay of Bengal and the Sangu River, may temporarily stem the ocean’s advance, but they offer at best a short-term fix. The building up of large water reservoir and proper dredging of the rivers will enable us to reserve the water flowing in the full minutes monsoon which can then be used to meet the requirements during the dry seasons. Case in sight is The Three Gorges Damn in China. During the 1980s, the idea of a dam reemerged. The highest body of Government of China approved the dam in 1992: out of 2,633 delegates, 1,767 voted in favour, 177 voted against, 664 abstained, and 25 members did not vote.Construction started on December 14, 1994.The dam was expected to be fully operational in 2009, but additional projects, such as the underground power plant with six additional generators, delayed full operation until May 2012.The ship lift was completed in 2015. The dam had raised the water level in the reservoir to 172.5 m (566 ft) above sea level by the end of 2008 and the designed maximum level of 175 m (574 ft) by October 2010. This may however indeed be a very difficult project for us to build a dam of such mammoth size. However, smaller dams, canals connecting rivers may be an idea which requires close attention.  The floods may potentially become a regular phenomenon and it is time that we need to necessary actions.

The writer, a banker by profession, has worked both in local and overseas market with various foreign and local banks in different positions

The devastating floods

Engineering adaptations to climate change that have been successful in other nations—such as the dikes constructed in the Netherlands—wont work in Bangladesh because the soils are sandy and constantly shifting

The full monsoon started quite early this year, the downpour starting from late January which intensified during the summers. A number of rivers started flowing above the danger level since May/June. We are now probably going to witness one of the major floods almost to the level of 1988. Bangladesh lies at the bottom of the Ganges, the Brahmaputra and the Meghna G river system. Bangladesh is watered by a total of 57 trans-boundary rivers flowing to it: 54 from neighbouring India and three from Myanmar. The country, which has no control of water flows and volume, drains to the Bay of Bengal. Coupled with the high level of widespread poverty and increasing population density, limited adaptive capacity and poorly funded, ineffective local governance have made the region one of the most adversely affected on the planet. There are an estimated one thousand people in each square kilometre, with the national population increasing by two million people each year. Almost half the population is in poverty (defined as purchasing power parity of US$1.25 per person a day). The population lacks the resources to respond to natural disaster as the government has very limited resources to help them. Sea surface temperatures in the shallow Bay of Bengal have significantly increased, which, scientists believe, has caused Bangladesh to suffer some of the fastest recorded sea level rises in the world. Storm surges from more frequent and stronger cyclones push walls of water 50 to 60 miles up the Deltas rivers. At the same time, melting of glaciers and snowpack in the Himalayas, which hold the third largest body of snow on Earth, has swollen the rivers that flow into Bangladesh from Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan, and India. So too have Indias water policies. India diverts large quantities of water for irrigation during the dry season and releases most water during the monsoon season. A three-foot rise in sea level would submerge almost 20 percent of the entire country and displace more than 30 million people. Some scientists project a five-to-six foot rise by 2100, which would displace perhaps 50 million people. As perspective, the ongoing tragedy in Syria has caused the exodus of approximately three million people. Already, the intruding sea has contaminated groundwater, which supplies drinking water for coastal regions, and degraded farmland, rendering it less fertile and eventually barren. It is not just people who are affected. The Sundarbans, the largest mangrove forest in the world and a World Heritage Site, lies in the delta of the Ganges River in Bangladesh and India. Home to the iconic Bengal tiger, the Sundarbans also play a critical role in protecting Bangladeshs coastal areas from storm surges caused by cyclones. Engineering adaptations to climate change that have been successful in other nationssuch as the dikes constructed in the Netherlandswont work in Bangladesh because the soils are sandy and constantly shifting. The government has undertaken measures to adapt to climate change. It has developed an effective early warning system to alert coastal rural areas of impending cyclones; built a network of 2,100 cyclone shelters, which can accommodate more than a million people; and financed 4,000 miles of coastal embankment projects. It is even planting trees on chars in an effort to create islands that are more durable. However, despite its economic progress, Bangladesh remains a poor country with limited resources. Some measures, such as levees made of sand bags along the Bay of Bengal and the Sangu River, may temporarily stem the oceans advance, but they offer at best a short-term fix. The building up of large water reservoir and proper dredging of the rivers will enable us to reserve the water flowing in the full minutes monsoon which can then be used to meet the requirements during the dry seasons. Case in sight is The Three Gorges Damn in China. During the 1980s, the idea of a dam reemerged. The highest body of Government of China approved the dam in 1992: out of 2,633 delegates, 1,767 voted in favour, 177 voted against, 664 abstained, and 25 members did not vote.Construction started on December 14, 1994.The dam was expected to be fully operational in 2009, but additional projects, such as the underground power plant with six additional generators, delayed full operation until May 2012.The ship lift was completed in 2015. The dam had raised the water level in the reservoir to 172.5 m (566 ft) above sea level by the end of 2008 and the designed maximum level of 175 m (574 ft) by October 2010. This may however indeed be a very difficult project for us to build a dam of such mammoth size. However, smaller dams, canals connecting rivers may be an idea which requires close attention. The floods may potentially become a regular phenomenon and it is time that we need to necessary actions. The writer, a banker by profession, has worked both in local and overseas market with various foreign and local banks in different positions