The problem of waterlogging during the monsoon season is nothing new to Bangladesh.
Then why are we caught so totally unprepared, year after year?
The heavy rainfalls of the last few days have caused floodings in various parts of the country, with two upazilas in Moulvibazar particularly badly hit, causing immense suffering to 70,000 people.
Bearing the brunt of the adverse effects of climate change, Bangladesh has been at high risk for a long time now, and effective measures against our annual subtropical monsoon should have been the primary objective of the government, both nationally and locally.
But the hardships endured by the thousands trapped by the flood have only intensified.
It was recently reported that losses of hundreds of crores were incurred due to flash floods in Netrakona, mainly due to dereliction of duty on part of government officials.
What’s worse, right before Eid, a food crisis may be imminent.
The problem in the rural areas says nothing of the scale of the problem in the capital, where bad planning has caused major thoroughfares of the city to get inundated with a relatively small amount of rain.
Furthermore, the traffic system also lapses in chaos, affecting every aspect of life in the city.
Needless to say, the city’s drainage system is woefully inadequate -- causing Dhaka to get flooded every time rainfall exceeds 40mm.
Dhaka’s mayors need to treat this problem as a priority -- a tremendous amount of human misery can be averted by taking the right measures in advance.
