Floods turn Bangladeshi farmers into nomads
Date: 06-Aug-02
Country: BANGLADESH
Author: Anis Ahmed
Momena's family is one of hundreds displaced by Bangladesh's worst floods in four years - but a fact of life in villages like Bagutia, where flood waters have forced inhabitants to relocate at least three times in the past 14 years.
Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia visited flood-stricken areas in northern Sirajganj district, about 50 km from Bagutia, on Monday, imploring villagers to persevere.
"We are familiar with disasters including floods and so face it boldly, with courage and fortitude," state television quoted Khaleda as saying.
"The government will provide necessary assistance to rebuild lives of the flood victims," she said.
Bangladesh's chronic floods have forced people to keep moving in search of drier land.
"Virtually, we have been made like nomads or gypsies moving from one place to another. We do not have permanent homes," said Nowsher Ali in Bagutia.
"Today you see us here but next year it may be at a different village," he said.
Most of their rice crops were washed away by the floods while the voracious Jamuna river swallowed hundreds of homes in this village alone.
Bangladesh, a country of 130 million people, relies heavily on agriculture and the floods, an almost annual event in this South Asian country, often play havoc with farming.
The floods are caused by monsoon rains and upstream water coming from neighbouring India. This year, they have inundated the homes of some five million people and damaged 300,000 hectares (750,000 acres) of rice crops, according to official estimates.
Independent sources say the picture is worse than the official figures show.
LIVING WITH FLOODS
The headmaster of Bagutia school said the students, many of whom are having trouble meeting school tuition fees, are lucky to have a roof over their classroom.
"We do not have a permanent building or shed," Mohammad Anwarul Huq said, adding that "every time there is a bad flood, full or part of the school was swept away."
The floods have been receding in the country's north since Friday, revealing wrecked homes and ruined rice patties.
Jahangir Alam Prodhan, a teacher in Bagutia, said the regular flooding has toughened the village, making residents more resilient and courageous.
Villagers brave stormy nights, floating on rafts with no cover, their children playing in the murky, swirling waters, often living on just one full meal every two or three days.
"We have learned to live with odds," said Ambia Begum of Bagutia. She said no relief goods had yet been supplied by the authorities although getting dry food and clean water posed serious health problems.
The natural disasters have had other dislocating effects, forcing rural workers to seek jobs in the cities.
"They work as rickshaw-pullers, porters, brick breaker at construction sites and in case of finding no work, they turn to crime," another Bagutia resident said.
Dhaka municipal officials said about a quarter of the city's nearly 10 million people were migrants from villages who had lost their homes to mighty rivers and in floods.
"Never shall we settle anywhere permanently," said Bagutia's Mohammad Sirajul Huq, a retired air force officer.
"But we are brave enough to face the floods," he added.