Sidr victims want embankment
bdnews24.com :
Southern Bangladesh is still bearing the brunt of cyclone ‘Sidr’ seven years on.
The severe cyclonic storm killed over 1,000 people, rendered thousands of others homeless and destroyed infrastructure on Nov 15, 2007. After all these years, the embankments damaged in Sidr have not been repaired. This has added to the sufferings and uncertainties of coastal residents of Barguna and Bagerhat.
Locals say the embankments are not strong enough to protect them in the event of a strong tidal wave.
Several villages in the districts are still inundated during high tides leading to loss of crops.
Of Barguna’s 950-kilometre stretch of embankment, 54 km was destroyed completely while another 396 km stretch suffered partial damage, according to Water Development Board (WDB).
A 14 km stretch of the embankment is yet to be repaired while 212 km stretch is said to be partially risky.
“We are repairing 200 km stretch of the barrage and the rest will be done gradually,” said WDB’s Deputy Divisional Engineer Abul Khaer. Bagerhat’s Sharankhola, adjacent to the Sundarbans, was the most affected where Sidr left a trail of devastation in its wake. Numerous houses and businesses were damaged.
Businessmen at Rayenda Bazar on Baleswar River bank claimed the damage was worth several million takas.
Two years later, the same market was flooded during cyclone Aila. The market’s shop owners’ association General Secretary Anowar Hossain said the market had at least 2,500 businesses.
Businessmen there had to be contained with assurances of preventive measures from the authorities.
However, the district’s WDB says a World Bank-financed project has been undertaken to protect the market with an embankment. Shop owners’ association chief and Rayenda Union Parishad Chairman Asaduzzaman Milon claimed the WDB had only surveyed land several times in the face of demands from locals.
“But they did nothing else,” he complained.
Bagerhat WDB Executive Engineer Md Moin Uddin said, “Land acquisition has started as part of the project.”
Southern Bangladesh is still bearing the brunt of cyclone ‘Sidr’ seven years on.
The severe cyclonic storm killed over 1,000 people, rendered thousands of others homeless and destroyed infrastructure on Nov 15, 2007. After all these years, the embankments damaged in Sidr have not been repaired. This has added to the sufferings and uncertainties of coastal residents of Barguna and Bagerhat.
Locals say the embankments are not strong enough to protect them in the event of a strong tidal wave.
Several villages in the districts are still inundated during high tides leading to loss of crops.
Of Barguna’s 950-kilometre stretch of embankment, 54 km was destroyed completely while another 396 km stretch suffered partial damage, according to Water Development Board (WDB).
A 14 km stretch of the embankment is yet to be repaired while 212 km stretch is said to be partially risky.
“We are repairing 200 km stretch of the barrage and the rest will be done gradually,” said WDB’s Deputy Divisional Engineer Abul Khaer. Bagerhat’s Sharankhola, adjacent to the Sundarbans, was the most affected where Sidr left a trail of devastation in its wake. Numerous houses and businesses were damaged.
Businessmen at Rayenda Bazar on Baleswar River bank claimed the damage was worth several million takas.
Two years later, the same market was flooded during cyclone Aila. The market’s shop owners’ association General Secretary Anowar Hossain said the market had at least 2,500 businesses.
Businessmen there had to be contained with assurances of preventive measures from the authorities.
However, the district’s WDB says a World Bank-financed project has been undertaken to protect the market with an embankment. Shop owners’ association chief and Rayenda Union Parishad Chairman Asaduzzaman Milon claimed the WDB had only surveyed land several times in the face of demands from locals.
“But they did nothing else,” he complained.
Bagerhat WDB Executive Engineer Md Moin Uddin said, “Land acquisition has started as part of the project.”