Haor areas of the northeastern part of Bangladesh face flash floods caused by sudden and early downstream water from the surrounding upstreams during the period from late March to May. A haor is a very low lying river basin area that is covered by water for almost half the year starting from monsoon. It is a variety of wetland habitats including rivers, streams, and canals – large areas of seasonally inundated cultivable land.
Flash floods take place more frequently and less predictably. These floods cause quick damage to crops and property, and are followed by relatively rapid recession. Haors are important sources of agricultural production for a large number of vulnerable people living in that locality. During winter, cultivated lands of the area produce paddy with minimum effort; during monsoon the same morphs into a breeding ground for open water fishery, and hosts a wide range of freshwater biodiversity.
Haors are important areas for Boro rice cultivation (a rice variety cultivated from December to May) as well. Boro is a mainstay for the local economy – a largely mono-cropping agricultural system.
Early flash floods often wash away standing crops, and people lose their harvest. Flood, especially at the brim of harvest, makes the farmers frustrated; they face irredeemable losses right before the harvest is supposed to yield.
Conventional protection practices
According to conventional practice, low-height earthen embankments along the periphery of the haor, with structuring and drainage channels at intersections, have been built to protect the boro from flash floods. The embankments inundate and remain under water during monsoon while the harvest is protected. Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) has the key responsibility for present flood protection structures in haor areas.
Over the last few decades, nearly 4,500km of low-lying embankments along the small rivers, haors, and canals have been made and repaired. Cases of successful and unsuccessful embankments are being observed across the country.
Earthen embankments face problems like erosion and breaching every year. Low-height submersible embankments obstruct the flash flood water for several days, so that farmers get time for harvesting and yielding before the land is completely inundated.
The country had experienced amplified occurrences of flash floods in the recent years of 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2010 in the Haor areas – these occurrances damaged the main crops of the region. People’s observation and experiences divulge that boro is damaged due to flash flood in the haor region once every three years. According to the people of the haor areas, flash floods might severely affect those areas in the coming months of 2014.
Actions to be undertaken
The Ministry of Water Resource, Bangladesh Water Development Board BWDB and wings should consider the following short-term and long-term steps to support the boro farmers of the haor areas:
Short-term steps
Prompt and coordinated actions are needed by respective authorities and duty bearers to make new protective earthen embankments in vulnerable spots of the haor regions in conjunction with community and local governments as soon as possible, and complete ongoing repairs. Any sorts of irregularity or dilemma might cause damages to crops, and the people will suffer due to early flash floods.
Appropriate allocation, rapid flow of funds, effective monitoring, and supervision of urgent protection activities should be ensured by authorities responsible at different levels.
Role of local governments and communities at the different stages of the work and during flash flood situations needs to be emphasised upon, supported and ensured by authorities.
Long-term Steps
It is felt that submersible embankments are economically smart interventions that help the people of the haor. However, limitations such as outfitted difficulties of physical workings, weak management set-up for operations, maintenance and protection, environmental consequences, and lack of engagement of people of the interventions need to be addressed effectively involving all key actors.
Impact minimising strategies such as the use of cropping patterns, which minimise revelation to loss, and the setting up of non-agricultural income-generating activities, need to be promoted. Crop type and pattern should be selected according to the susceptibility to flooding.
If possible, efforts should be given by concerned agencies to find new variety of species that have flash flood resistance. Crops insurance schemes could be encouraged and piloted by relevant organisations with proper governance set up as a long-term risk-reducing initiative.
Any livelihood initiative in the haor areas has to take flood aspects into consideration so that the initiative does not give in, but yield some amount of benefit to the target people. Involvement of the community, and enlisting their inputs in any kinds of programme design and relevant issues affecting their lives and livelihood will make the intervention process easier and impact-bearing.
Mainstreaming disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation in existing development works and future initiatives of different government departments and NGOs working in the area is a must. Concerned authorities should develop a disaster database, which is very important to carry out detailed study and planning.
GOs and NGOs need to redesign their development programmes with the active participation of the most vulnerable communities to ensure that they maximise flood mitigation potential, and incorporate traditional community coping practices which are fit technically, environmentally, socially, and economically.
The respective authorities at different levels should strengthen capacity building initiatives of local government. A well-organised and coordinated effort is needed to further strengthen local level planning, decision making, allocation of resource to local governments, and implementing processes for flash flood proofing programmes in the vulnerable locations. Authorities and policy makers should ensure adequate resource disbursement from central government and other top-level stakeholders, and oversee the effective utilisation of these resources at the lower level.
Suitable steps, particularly structural measures in haor areas, could be taken considering existing study recommendations on flood and flash flood management with proper cross validation. Facilitating new study and action research for more durable solution in protecting boro crops, properties, and assets of haor areas might be a worthy step.
To increase the water holding capacity of the drainage systems and to increase the water flow capacity, far-reaching river dredging programmes to remove the sediments from the river-beds deposited during flood should to be taken. The abandoned channels also need to be re-excavated to reduce water-logging. The dredge sediment could be used to raise the level of land and infrastructures with proper planning that considered input from the brave people of haor areas.
In forecasting monsoon river floods Bangladesh is in good form, but in forecasting flash floods a lot of gaps and limitations are observed. At this point, improvement of present forecasting system is very much necessary. Joint steps with neighboring countries could be explored by political and technical authorities in this regard.
Strong coordination and cooperation, along with efficient management practices among relevant ministries, departments, and actors from top to bottom across the year is required for managing flash flood risk and ensuring good harvest of boro in the haor areas.
The success of actions taken by responsible authorities to reduce upcoming flash flood risk would be treated as a smart step forward to ensure food security and poverty reduction of a large number of people in haor areas.