An anatomy of floods in Bangladesh

There is an urgent need for widespread application of people-friendly home-spun technologies for the greater interest of the country

Flood is an an inescapable reality in the existence of the people living in the delta-region called Bangladesh. It is an ineluctable fate designated on the 85% to 90% people of the total population of the low-lying river-basins and floodplains that they will be drowned, washed and be left utterly helpless by floods in seasons and out of seasons. Actually, floods have been causing irreparable losses to both the infrastructures and economy of Bangladesh since time immemorial. Though a few pluses may be sparsely spotted in the aftermath of floods, these natural calamities happen to be the perennial curses itched in the lives of the predominantly marginalized Bangladeshi people.

Hundreds of seminars, symposiums and workshops have been held concerning the preventive measures against floods but the real scenario has changed a little over the years. Many political leaders and social workers have built their careers capitalizing the sufferings of the flood-affected people. Thousands of crores of taka have been squandered on innumerable flood-preventive projects both from the government revenues and foreign aid packages but the real sufferers have been benefited quite marginally in proportion to the money spent.

Anatomizing the whole gamut of the flood scenario, some shockingly crude realities instantly surface before us. In my present write-up, I would like to point out some of the major causes for which flood-preventive projects and schemes do not yield the expected results. To me, the gear-moving factor behind the failure of these projects lies in the procedural mechanism as well as the implementation process. In fact, most of the projects aim at addressing the surface and short-term benefits and uses while the long-term and durable interests remain either incomprehensible or in most cases overlooked. Let us cite a simple example of the process of building a flood-preventive embankment.

A flood-preventive embankment is built half-heartedly in Bangladesh just to withstand the onrush of flood-water but not built thinking deeply the technological viability of how best they can be erected. To delve deep into the matter we see that the projects are launched hastily without a full-proof expert study. Here automatically the limitations and the short-sightedness of the decision-making process are clearly noticeable. In the cases of Bangladesh, the decision-makers are certainly not the field-experts in their respective capacities of decisions. Although they have higher academic qualifications and degrees, the compelling truth is that they are least-oriented to the practical field knowledge and therefore not ones of a tailor-made brand. As a result, decisions made by these cosmetic experts compellingly end in a fiasco.

Again, expert decisions in most cases are manipulated and misguided by either bureaucracy or political influence. In this backdrop, a project taken through this process will simply limp and grind to a halt. Therefore, in spite of the operations and the interactions of uncountable projects over about a century, miseries and sufferings of the vulnerable people of the flood-prone areas recur in a cyclic fashion. To add salt to the insult, a sizeable number of the concerned supervising administrative and political high-up welcome these backfiring flood-preventive projects as bonanza of hunting fortunes overnight.

Floods occurring in Bangladesh are generally categorized into two broad headings: (a) monsoon floods; (b) flash floods. Monsoon floods far outpace the flash floods both in magnitude and severity. During monsoon, rivers and all sorts of water bodies carry far too more amount of water than the lean or dry season. Therefore, monsoon floods are more of natural occurrence than natural calamities given the very geographical location of Bangladesh as a lower riparian country compared to her surrounding countries like India, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar. In addition, the overflowing water of the China basins like this year falls into the Bay of Bengal through the water channels of Bangladesh. Now, it is within anybody’s guess the tremendously overwhelming volume of water carried by our all rivers and their innumerable channels. Again, the continuous siltation on the riverbeds over the centuries has severely castrated the rivers’ water intake capacity and therefore is overflowing the banks quite rapidly. It is estimated that approximately 8, 44000 sq. million cusec meter water are carried by the rivers and their tributaries meandering over the basins during the monsoon. Moreover, around 4, 87, 000 sq. million cusec meter rainwater is added to it. Now, just imagine the havoc caused by water during the monsoon.

My aim is not to burden the article with piles of statistical information and data. Instead, I actually want to put forward a few suggestions and points as to how effectively and viably we can deal with the perennial problem of flood with minimum losses of properties and infrastructures. Here, I would like to stress the importance of total mobilization and utilization of the invaluable store of our practical experience concerning floods gained over the centuries. By utilizing our own experience in the field level flood-prevention strategies, we can effectively save huge routine expenditure in one hand and can build a secure flood protection shield for the people on the other. Thus, we will be able to serve the long-term interests of the mass people- durable security against regular displacement and dislocation from their houses and the sweeping awash of their belongings.

By mobilization and utilization of our own experience, I categorically mean the application of our home-spun technology in flood-prevention. Since hundreds of years, we see our illiterate rural people have been protecting their homesteads and valuables from the surging flood water by building their homes on the highly raised platforms absolutely made by earth, bamboo, wood and other locally available materials. What a radically innovative technology! For hundreds of years, these cost-effective locally developed anti-floods strategy have been unquestionably proved to be fruitful and dependable.

 These illiterate and poor people have learnt this applied science from nobody. Neither have they developed and applied this technology upon completion of either a short-course or long-course under any banner. Indeed, necessity is the mother of invention. In fact, every applied science or technology basically develops and upgrades upon practical experience and experimentations.

Though traditionally developed by illiterate rural people, the viability and sustainability of this anti-flood stratagem simply amaze us to the limit. Who dares to deny the potential potency and efficacy of this traditional technology?

Now, let us analyze how this traditional anti-flood technology functions so effectively. The cluster of platform-houses that we customarily see in the beel, haor and other very low-lying rural areas are virtually not pasted together. Rather, each and every house clearly maintains some gaps or spaces with the others. In case of floods, the onrushing surges of flood-water, however powerful it may be, do not confront any barricade on the way forward. Instead, the surging water finds safe passages to flow through which is why it does not have any chance to exert force on the platform-houses. As a result, these houses safely stand erect in the face of floods. But the same doesn’t happen in the cases of our polder types of flood-protection embankments having no sluice-gates or water passing passages. As a result, the gigantic volume of surging flood waters asserts optimum force on the long barricade line of embankment built half-heartedly. Naturally, the weak points within embankments fail to withstand the immense forces thus exerted.

I strongly recommend the widespread application of this people-friendly home-spun technology for the greater interest of the country. At the same time I do also recommend to revise and customize the existing process of building embankments.   

The writer is Assistant Professor of English Bogra Cantonment Public School & College

e-mail:[email protected]

 

 

An anatomy of floods in Bangladesh

There is an urgent need for widespread application of people-friendly home-spun technologies for the greater interest of the country

Flood is an an inescapable reality in the existence of the people living in the delta-region called Bangladesh. It is an ineluctable fate designated on the 85% to 90% people of the total population of the low-lying river-basins and floodplains that they will be drowned, washed and be left utterly helpless by floods in seasons and out of seasons. Actually, floods have been causing irreparable losses to both the infrastructures and economy of Bangladesh since time immemorial. Though a few pluses may be sparsely spotted in the aftermath of floods, these natural calamities happen to be the perennial curses itched in the lives of the predominantly marginalized Bangladeshi people. Hundreds of seminars, symposiums and workshops have been held concerning the preventive measures against floods but the real scenario has changed a little over the years. Many political leaders and social workers have built their careers capitalizing the sufferings of the flood-affected people. Thousands of crores of taka have been squandered on innumerable flood-preventive projects both from the government revenues and foreign aid packages but the real sufferers have been benefited quite marginally in proportion to the money spent. Anatomizing the whole gamut of the flood scenario, some shockingly crude realities instantly surface before us. In my present write-up, I would like to point out some of the major causes for which flood-preventive projects and schemes do not yield the expected results. To me, the gear-moving factor behind the failure of these projects lies in the procedural mechanism as well as the implementation process. In fact, most of the projects aim at addressing the surface and short-term benefits and uses while the long-term and durable interests remain either incomprehensible or in most cases overlooked. Let us cite a simple example of the process of building a flood-preventive embankment. A flood-preventive embankment is built half-heartedly in Bangladesh just to withstand the onrush of flood-water but not built thinking deeply the technological viability of how best they can be erected. To delve deep into the matter we see that the projects are launched hastily without a full-proof expert study. Here automatically the limitations and the short-sightedness of the decision-making process are clearly noticeable. In the cases of Bangladesh, the decision-makers are certainly not the field-experts in their respective capacities of decisions. Although they have higher academic qualifications and degrees, the compelling truth is that they are least-oriented to the practical field knowledge and therefore not ones of a tailor-made brand. As a result, decisions made by these cosmetic experts compellingly end in a fiasco. Again, expert decisions in most cases are manipulated and misguided by either bureaucracy or political influence. In this backdrop, a project taken through this process will simply limp and grind to a halt. Therefore, in spite of the operations and the interactions of uncountable projects over about a century, miseries and sufferings of the vulnerable people of the flood-prone areas recur in a cyclic fashion. To add salt to the insult, a sizeable number of the concerned supervising administrative and political high-up welcome these backfiring flood-preventive projects as bonanza of hunting fortunes overnight. Floods occurring in Bangladesh are generally categorized into two broad headings: (a) monsoon floods; (b) flash floods. Monsoon floods far outpace the flash floods both in magnitude and severity. During monsoon, rivers and all sorts of water bodies carry far too more amount of water than the lean or dry season. Therefore, monsoon floods are more of natural occurrence than natural calamities given the very geographical location of Bangladesh as a lower riparian country compared to her surrounding countries like India, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar. In addition, the overflowing water of the China basins like this year falls into the Bay of Bengal through the water channels of Bangladesh. Now, it is within anybodys guess the tremendously overwhelming volume of water carried by our all rivers and their innumerable channels. Again, the continuous siltation on the riverbeds over the centuries has severely castrated the rivers water intake capacity and therefore is overflowing the banks quite rapidly. It is estimated that approximately 8, 44000 sq. million cusec meter water are carried by the rivers and their tributaries meandering over the basins during the monsoon. Moreover, around 4, 87, 000 sq. million cusec meter rainwater is added to it. Now, just imagine the havoc caused by water during the monsoon. My aim is not to burden the article with piles of statistical information and data. Instead, I actually want to put forward a few suggestions and points as to how effectively and viably we can deal with the perennial problem of flood with minimum losses of properties and infrastructures. Here, I would like to stress the importance of total mobilization and utilization of the invaluable store of our practical experience concerning floods gained over the centuries. By utilizing our own experience in the field level flood-prevention strategies, we can effectively save huge routine expenditure in one hand and can build a secure flood protection shield for the people on the other. Thus, we will be able to serve the long-term interests of the mass people- durable security against regular displacement and dislocation from their houses and the sweeping awash of their belongings. By mobilization and utilization of our own experience, I categorically mean the application of our home-spun technology in flood-prevention. Since hundreds of years, we see our illiterate rural people have been protecting their homesteads and valuables from the surging flood water by building their homes on the highly raised platforms absolutely made by earth, bamboo, wood and other locally available materials. What a radically innovative technology! For hundreds of years, these cost-effective locally developed anti-floods strategy have been unquestionably proved to be fruitful and dependable. These illiterate and poor people have learnt this applied science from nobody. Neither have they developed and applied this technology upon completion of either a short-course or long-course under any banner. Indeed, necessity is the mother of invention. In fact, every applied science or technology basically develops and upgrades upon practical experience and experimentations. Though traditionally developed by illiterate rural people, the viability and sustainability of this anti-flood stratagem simply amaze us to the limit. Who dares to deny the potential potency and efficacy of this traditional technology? Now, let us analyze how this traditional anti-flood technology functions so effectively. The cluster of platform-houses that we customarily see in the beel, haor and other very low-lying rural areas are virtually not pasted together. Rather, each and every house clearly maintains some gaps or spaces with the others. In case of floods, the onrushing surges of flood-water, however powerful it may be, do not confront any barricade on the way forward. Instead, the surging water finds safe passages to flow through which is why it does not have any chance to exert force on the platform-houses. As a result, these houses safely stand erect in the face of floods. But the same doesnt happen in the cases of our polder types of flood-protection embankments having no sluice-gates or water passing passages. As a result, the gigantic volume of surging flood waters asserts optimum force on the long barricade line of embankment built half-heartedly. Naturally, the weak points within embankments fail to withstand the immense forces thus exerted. I strongly recommend the widespread application of this people-friendly home-spun technology for the greater interest of the country. At the same time I do also recommend to revise and customize the existing process of building embankments. The writer is Assistant Professor of English Bogra Cantonment Public School College e-mail:[email protected]