Natural calamities such as floods, cyclones or storms because of the country's geographical location do visit Bangladesh very often. However, none can make any long-term projections about their timing. Forecasts are usually made when these calamities start brewing either in land or in sea. But one natural calamity -river bank erosion -remains to be an ongoing natural disaster for this land and its population though the erosion process continues to be highly unpredictable.
For time immemorial the problem of river erosion has been taking a heavy economic and physical toll on the rural population in particular. Millions of people fall victim to eroding rivers and most of them turn paupers.
In the event of any other natural calamity such as flood or cyclone, the victims are not displaced from their homesteads and they get the opportunity to rebuild their life through their own efforts or with outside help later. Their crops may be damaged fully or partially by a flood or cyclone. But their land is not lost and they get the chance to recoup their losses in the next crop seasons.
The river bank erosion is different from other natural calamities in terms of its nature of destruction. The victims lose their fixed assets such as land, home and hearth. In the face of imminent threat of losing their homesteads, the villagers take refuge to safe places such as roads and embankments. Those who can afford, build new homes somewhere else and start life anew.
There is no loss life in river erosion. But the victims of this slow but gradual disaster are forced to pay a heavy price throughout their lives. It takes a few decades for anyone to make up losses. Those who migrate to nearby safe locations either work as day labourers or sharecroppers.
A large section of the river-bank erosion victims migrate to urban areas, preferably to Dhaka city, in search of a living. A visit to slums in Dhaka city might help one get to know the extent of migration of river erosion victims to urban centres.
There is no denying that not all rivers erode their banks and put people living along the same are in trouble. Only some rivers are more prone to eroding their own banks. In recent years, the problem of river bank erosion has intensified because of the increased siltation of their river beds.
The victims of river erosion do hardly receive any attention either from the media and the administration. Since the problem is an ongoing one, its victims hardly receive the attention they deserve from all concerned. The victims of floods or cyclones despite losing less than what the people affected by river-bank erosion do receive greater attention and help from home and abroad in their rehabilitation efforts.
The government, it seems, is also least bothered by the plight of the river-bank erosion victims, numbering more than several millions.
When erosion by major rivers such as the Jamuna, the Meghna, the Padma and the Brahmaputra gathers pace, the Water Development Board (WDB) is seen dumping concrete blocks or sand bags in thousands to tame the rivers at the affected locations.
In most cases the preventive measures prove to be futile and the funds spent on the relevant projects go wasted. Moreover, officials and contractor concerned financially benefit from this type of projects where the rivers devour everything that comes their way.
There are hardly any reliable and updated statistics on the extent of damage caused by the river bank erosion. According to the 'World Disaster Report 2001', published by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRCS) nearly 1.0 million people are affected and a land area measuring 9,000 hectare cultivable land are lost annually due to river bank erosion in Bangladesh.
Through an act of parliament, the Department of Disaster Management was created in the year 2012. The department until now has not done anything about the river bank erosion victims.
'The Bangladesh Report 2013: Disaster Preparedness Response and Recovery, published by the department has talked about every natural calamity in Bangladesh in 2012 and remedial measures taken by the government and the donor agencies, but not a word about river-bank erosion victims. It seems that the department does not recognise the river bank erosion as a natural disaster.
But the government does need to do help millions of people who fall victim to river bank erosion every year. If victims of floods and cyclones deserved official assistance, then the people affected by river erosion should also be eligible for the same type of help. Rather, given the extent of loss they suffer, the river erosion victims do deserve greater support from both the government and other humanitarian organisations.
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