Embankments in Bangladesh need urgent repair

Naya Para: Millions of people in cyclone-affected Bangladesh face an increased risk of hunger unless an intricate network of protective river embankments is repaired now.

Of the nearly 10,000 km of embankments and dykes protecting the country�s southern coastal belt, over 25% are estimated to be damaged after Cyclone Sidr slammed into the river-delta nation on November 15.

A young boy walks along an embankment in Bangladesh's cyclone-affected Barguna District. Approximately 90% of residents live within such polders / Photo credit: David Swanson / IRIN

Some 35 million people live in the country�s 19 coastal districts, comprising 30% of the country�s total land area.

�My paddy crop survived the cyclone, but if the embankment breaks I will lose everything,� said Sobahan Mridha, a local farmer in Naya Para, a largely agricultural village of 500 people in Bangladesh�s cyclone-affected Barguna district.

Should that happen, like most cyclone survivors - many of whom have already lost their homes and crops - Sohaban�s ability to sustain his family will be lost.

His livelihood is dependent on the rice, bananas and betel leaf he grows on his single hectare of land.

When the cyclone struck, killing over 3,200 and leaving millions homeless, the earthen embankments prevented a four metre tidal surge from inundating his property and standing crops, much of which he still hopes to harvest in the coming weeks.

The fact that most of those who perished lived outside the confines of such polders further highlights their importance.

�If it wasn�t for the embankment, we would all be dead,� Mridha said.

Polders - a first line of defence

Built from the early 1960s onwards to protect residents from

Sobahan Mridha points to his damaged banana trees in cyclone-affected Naya Para / Photo credit: David Swanson / IRIN

tidal flooding and saline intrusion, today�s network of 124 polders of varying sizes and extending up to 100 km inland, provides a first line of defence for millions living along Bangladesh�s coastal belt.

The network has proved to have significantly reduced loss of life and damage during cyclonic surges.

�Before then, there was no protection, resulting in significant loss of life and damage,� Ghiasuddin Ahmed, chief engineer for Bangladesh�s Water Development Board in the south of the country, told IRIN.

With average ground levels in the country�s coastal areas just 1.5 to 2 metres above sea level and tidal surges reaching up to 6 metres, the consequences of such cyclonic surges can be deadly.

In 1970 a cyclone struck Bangladesh killing about half a million people, while another in 1991 killed over 130,000. Polders, cyclone shelters and a strong early warning system were critical components of the country�s disaster preparedness.

�Most people in this area live behind such river embankments,� Moshiur Alam, the deputy commissioner of Bangladesh�s adjacent cyclone-affected Patuakhali district, told IRIN.

�If there were no polders, there would have been a greater loss of life and property,� he agreed.

But despite that fact, many of these life-saving embankments have fallen into disrepair; a reality the Bangladesh authorities are all too aware of.

�They need to be better constructed and better strengthened,� Alam conceded, citing a severe lack of financial resources.

An estimated 25% of the country's nearly 10,000 km of embankments were damaged when Cyclone Sidr hit Bangladesh / Photo credit: David Swanson / IRIN

Three weeks after the disaster, the worst to strike the country in just over 15 years, that call, however, has taken on a new sense of urgency.

As survivors struggle to rebuild their lives, the livelihoods of those living behind embankments that have yet to be repaired are now under threat.

And with 90% of the country�s coastal population living within polders, and over 80% involved in agriculture, the potential impact on food security for such communities cannot be denied, experts say.

Source: IRIN

User comments

There are no comments