Around 200 metres of the flood control embankment in the coastal Tentulbaria area of Barguna has been damaged due to the strong current of the Payra River.
The crack has become a matter of serious concern for around 10,000 people of the localities under Nishanbaria Union of Taltali Upazila endangering life and livelihood.
The embankment broke and disappeared into the river on Monday night, local journalists said after visiting the area.
Residents of Tentulbaria, Sobahanpara, Ankujanpara and Jayalbhanga villages have demanded that the crack be repaired at the earliest to protect the habitations and cropland.
Locals said that thousands of acres of cropland and houses of Tetulbaria and Jayalbhanga villages have been washed away by the Payra River in the last 16 years due to negligence of the authorities concerned. If a long-lasting dyke is not constructed soon, the entire Nishanbaria Union will be wiped off the map.
Having lost their homes due to river erosion, many locals have taken shelter in different parts of the country including Dhaka, Chittagong and Barisal.
Hasina Begum of Tetulbaria village said, even after 16 years of Sidr, the Water Development Board has not built a sustainable embankment as per the plan. People in the area have to survive fighting with the tide.
Dhaka TribuneNurjahan Begum, a resident of Sobhanpara village, said: “Since the Cyclone Sidr, we have been fighting with water for six months a year. There is none to feel our suffering and be active to end the sufferings.”
Chairman of Nishanbaria Union Parishad Kamruzzaman Bachchu said that at least 1.5km of the embankment in Tetulbaria and Jayalbhanga villages adjacent to the sea have been lost to the sea and the river in the last 16 years due to non-construction of a sustainable embankment as per the plan after the Cyclone Sidr that battered the coastal inhabitants.
He also said that the entire Nishanbaria Union residents are spending their days in fear as the destruction of Payra River has started again.
Taltali Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Sifat Anwar Tumpa inspected the flood control embankment. She said the local cyclone shelters have been opened. Women, children and elderly people of the area at risk have been asked to go to safe shelter.
“I have instructed the Water Development Board authorities to repair the damaged embankment as soon as possible,” she told Dhaka Tribune.
Barguna Water Development Board Sub-Divisional Engineer Sudipta Chowdhury said they visited the cracked embankment area adjacent to the Payra River and said that the construction of the ring dam will begin within a week.
