REPORTS in a national daily on Friday said Chittagong port city is being inundated from tidal flooding regularly twice a day forcing people in most residential areas such as posh Agrabad in business district to abandon their homes. Many are moving on higher land while a section of wealthy people are migrating to capital Dhaka for safety. During monsoon most homes remain inundated in the ground floor while streets in front of the World Trade Center and other businesses in the city remain under knee deep water. Around 69 per cent areas in the Port city suffers from water logging, more than six million are highly vulnerable from high tidal flooding due to climate change , the report said quoting a survey of Public Works Department but as it appears protection measures over the past years showed hardly any impact.
It is almost a reality that life cycle in the city has become literally tied to tidal timings. The report has detailed how the city is slowly sinking every year with sea level rise. Chattogram city is only 0.42 meter above the sea level but the daily average high tide is at least 2.51 meter, a survey by Bangladesh Army said to suggest it is increasingly becoming difficult to save the country’s business capital. A modern residential city developed by Chattogram Development Authority (CDA) is now almost abandoned and as things are emerging the city may soon lose attraction as the nation’s business hub operating the country’s biggest port as business lifeline with outside world.
It is shocking that city streets at many places now look like deep water canals, house compound floating on water and even hospital wards inundated under knee-deep water. NASA forecast said Chattogram may be sub-merged in 100 years due to sea level rise. We know such forecast can’t be ignored. The Indonesian government has already started working to shift the country’s capital from Jakarta to higher ground on Java Island.
The Bangladesh government is evidently working to protect the city from tidal flooding and water logging. But the fact is that the city has sharply lost water retention areas and excavation of canals is not making impact. Installing water pump houses and tidal water regulators are not showing progress while contractors and party men are eating most budgeted fund in this respect. We must say the government needs innovative plan to protect the Port city.
It is almost a reality that life cycle in the city has become literally tied to tidal timings. The report has detailed how the city is slowly sinking every year with sea level rise. Chattogram city is only 0.42 meter above the sea level but the daily average high tide is at least 2.51 meter, a survey by Bangladesh Army said to suggest it is increasingly becoming difficult to save the country’s business capital. A modern residential city developed by Chattogram Development Authority (CDA) is now almost abandoned and as things are emerging the city may soon lose attraction as the nation’s business hub operating the country’s biggest port as business lifeline with outside world.
It is shocking that city streets at many places now look like deep water canals, house compound floating on water and even hospital wards inundated under knee-deep water. NASA forecast said Chattogram may be sub-merged in 100 years due to sea level rise. We know such forecast can’t be ignored. The Indonesian government has already started working to shift the country’s capital from Jakarta to higher ground on Java Island.
The Bangladesh government is evidently working to protect the city from tidal flooding and water logging. But the fact is that the city has sharply lost water retention areas and excavation of canals is not making impact. Installing water pump houses and tidal water regulators are not showing progress while contractors and party men are eating most budgeted fund in this respect. We must say the government needs innovative plan to protect the Port city.
