METEOROLOGISTS predicted a further increase in daily rainfall in the coming days as monsoon advanced to Chattogram on Monday and is likely to take over entire Bangladesh over the next five days. The monsoon entered the country through Teknaf on Sunday at a time when major rivers are flowing at levels far higher than what is normal for this time of the year.
Heavy rains continued on and off in Bangladesh and in upstream in India as two cyclones, including super cyclone Amphan, made its way through the region in a gap of mere 13 days since May 20. A Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre bulletin said Monday morning that the Brahmaputra and the Jamuna continued swelling like other major rivers stabilised at higher than usual levels. The FFWC recorded water levels rising at its 51 river gauging stations across Bangladesh as heavy to very heavy rains occurred in parts of Bangladesh.
Every year in Bangladesh, thousands of hectares of land crumble into the rivers that wind through this South Asian nation, swallowing homes and pushing families away from their rural villages. This land erosion peaks during the June-to-October monsoon season, which brings torrential rains and swells the country’s rivers.
Unfortunately the government response to erosion, while improving, has largely been ad hoc and temporary – sandbags thrown against already crumbling land, for example, rather than forward-looking planning to better adapt to the waterways. This is not a satisfactory way to combat the erosion of 160,000 hectares of land which occurred from 1973 to 2017 — roughly five times the land mass of Dhaka city.
The Bangladesh Water Development Board – the government agency that oversees the management of rivers – in December 2019 started a $130-million project intended to shield a nine-kilometre stretch of Naria from further erosion. This includes the dredging of waterways to remove excess sediment – which can divert a river’s flow and contribute to erosion – and installing sandbags and concrete blocks to buttress the steep riverbanks. There are also plans to erect structures in the river that would redirect water away from the fragile banks.
Bangladesh’s government in 2018 approved a multi-billion-dollar infrastructure plan to better manage the country’s rivers, including tackling erosion — of which the above project is merely a part. The plans include dredging, river training, and bank protection. But this work would be carried out over decades – the current deadline is the year 2100. By that time it will be most definitely too little too late.
