After long 18 years of Super Cyclone Sydor affected people cannot forget its devastation
Bagerhat Correspondent :
The Super Cyclone Sydor accompanied with the sudden tidal surge of the rivers Baleswar and Pnguchi that swept over Sharankhola and Morrelganj Upazilas in Bagerhat coastal district on November 15 in the year of 2007 the affected people (of those Upazilas) cannot forget the day and its devastations.
The Super Cyclone massacred the human habitations of the 2 Upazilas completely.
It claimed some 1,100 human lives and more than one lakh cattle-heads, poultry birds and innumerable trees of Sharankhola Upazila alone.
The people of the Upazila are still carrying the wounds, caused by the cyclone Sydor.
On the other hand, the Super Cyclone Sydor killed some 93 people and injured more than one thousand persons in Morrelganj Upazila.
It damaged standing crops of 14,953 hectares of lands and washed away the different spices of fish of 4,335 ponds and 1,463 fish farms.
Not only that but also the Super Cyclone Sydor damaged as many as 131 educational institutions completely and some 158 partially.
The Super Cyclone also damaged dwelling houses of some 1,937 families completely and dwelling houses of some 43, 226 families partially of the Upazila comprising 16 Unions and 1 Pourashava.
After the devastating Super Cyclone the Water Development Board of Bangladesh decided to construct a 62 kilometers long high raised and durable embankment on the bank of the river Baleswar in order to save the people from the hands of water surges and onrush of water at the time of high tide at a cost of Tk. 2, 42 crs.
But it took 9 years to be completed at a cost of Tk.3 hundred crores funded by the World Bank and it was handed over to the Water Development Board, Bagerhat in the year 2023.
But just after the construction of the embankment cracks appeared on many points of the durable embankment and blocks of 70 meters area of the same are sliding in the river Baleswar.
On the other hand, about 20 kilometers of the embankment are in hazards. So, the local people are in great anxieties.
The locals opine that without doing the river controlling works the stability of the embankment cannot be durable at all.
On the other hand, it is alleged that sands were used in the embankment at many places instead of solid mud. It is also another cause behind the crackdown of the embankment.
It is learnt from the Water Development Board that a proposal for the river-control project was already sent to the higher authorities and after it is approval the project will be implemented.
It was mentioned above that Sharnkhola and Morrelganj, 2 coastal Upazilas in Bagerhat district were destroyed when the Super Cyclone Sydor swept over those (2 Upazilas) on November 15 in the year 2007.
As a result, 1,193 people were killed (according to a un- official assessment) and properties worth Taka several hundred crs.
After the destructions and casualties the only demand of the (affected) people the Upazilas was the construction of a high raised and durable embankment on the bank of the river Baleswar.
In the face of the strong demand of the people the Government completed the construction works of a 62 kilometer long durable embankment on the bank of the river Baleswar from Morrelganj to Bogi under Sharankhola Upazila with the monetary help from the World Bank in the year of 2015 under a project named “Coastal Embankment Improvement Project (CEIP)” and 95 and it was completed by this time.
Freedom figter Abdul Barek of village of Dakkhin Southkhali under Sharankhola Upazila told, as many as 150 Bighas cultivable lands belonging to me and other members of my family were eroded by the mighty river Baleswar.
I lost my dear and near ones was killed by the Super Cyclone Sydor that swept over the Upazila on November 15 in the year of 2007.
In the year 2015 when the construction work of the durable embankment was started we expected, we will get relief of the river erosion and natural calamities like Sydor.
But our all those expectations were belied when the newly constructed embankment began to be eroded during the time its construction was going on.
Raihan Uddin Shanta, former Chairman of Sharankhola Upazila Parishad, told after the Super cyclone Sydor the construction work of the durable embankment was started in the year of 2015.
But for want of far sight the Water Development Board committed wrong in drawing the plan of the Coastal Embankment Improvement Project (CEIP).
As a result, the durable embankment was constructed without controlling the river.
Consequently, the embankment is now under threat. Some of its points were eroded and cracks appeared on its different places by this time.
It was learnt from the Water Development Board, Bagerhat district told, 20 kilometers out of 62 kilometers long the newly constructed embankment from Morrelganj to Bogi (within Sharankhola Upazila) are under threat.
On the other hand, following the strong current of the river Baleswar and its high depth some points of it (embankment) were eroded.
In order to protect the embankment a plan for the controlling the river Baleswar was sent to the higher authorities and if it is approved the works for controlling the river will be started.