Bangladesh needs permanent solutions when it comes to stopping floods.
In Sathkhira, Tk8.46 crore worth of fish, crab, and shrimp have been washed away as 1,655 hectares of land got flooded after the protection dam of Kholpetua river partially broke.
While we can take solace in the fact that we did not face any fatalities this time, the fact still remains that, for the people who lost their properties in this flood, it might as well have been a fatal attack on their very lives.
When we also consider the fact that this happened even after we had a dam in place, the situation becomes that much more dire.
A total of 3,500 families throughout nine villages were affected by the flood. The embankment itself was 150 feet which should have sufficed as protection for the villagers. The fact that it failed brings the following questions to mind: Where did we go wrong? What kind of structural error did we commit during either the design or the building phrase of the dam?
Bangladesh is a riverine country and our at risk status due to floods will only grow higher in the future due to global warming. The fact that we still haven't achieved expertise when it comes to the tackling of floods is immensely worrying, and will prove extremely fatal in the future.
We need do away with such stop-gap solutions. Given our country’s deltaic geographic make-up, where the risk of floods will keep on increasing, we need to get our act together in mitigating rampant floodings before it is too late.
