Explaining the Chittagong disaster
Friday, 15 June 2007
Syed Ishtiaque Reza
THE nation will take time to recover from the shock. More than 100 people were killed and many more are still missing in terrible landslides and flood triggered by torrential rain in different areas of the hilly Chittagong district, including the port city on Monday last.
The disaster, the worst one in recent memory, must be a serious cause for a review of why such a tragedy had to occur. The foreign media have already termed it as one of the biggest man-made environmental disasters. Those who work with environment were giving warnings about an impending disaster due to large-scale hill cutting and destruction of forests.
In the last thirty years hundreds of hills have been destroyed by those plunderers who made fortune by cutting the hilly structures. What happened on Monday was nothing, but nature's response to the sordid activities. Who is responsible? Noted environmentalist Dr. Ainun Nishat says first of all the persons who indulged in the cutting of hills, the others are definitely the Department of Environment and the Chittagong Development Authority, who did not prevent the destruction of hills and forests. The department and the CDA must give an explanation to the nation for their failure to follow up the circular issued in 1982 regarding limits on the number of trees to be cut down. The rampant destruction of the hills went on and with that a relentless felling of trees, leaving the soil weak and tenuous. The people inhabiting these areas were not informed of the risks they faced due to such activities. An absence of warning was thus a potent reason why so many lives were lost.
Landslides have become a regular occurrence in hilly areas of Chittagong in recent time. Experts have previously warned of environmental disasters due to the government's failure to stop the illegal clearing of hill areas for housing. The landslides were very much linked to the cutting of hills in this region.
The cutting of hills has been responsible for the massive landslides that have killed at least a hundred persons and injured many others during the previous years. The foothills have been encroached upon by slum-dwellers and even people of the lower and middle classes, and they are now facing the impending catastrophe of disastrous landslides that usually occur in the torrential rains of the monsoon season. The cutting of the hills and encroachment on the foothills are not only endangering the lives of the citizens but also causing environmental disaster.
Chittagong was once a beautiful city, but now it has become downright unscenic because of the mutilated hills. A gang of fraudulent people in connivance with influential persons grab government land by cutting hills, building structures illegally and subsequently letting them to the poor people.
Monday's rain was one of the heaviest ones. But experts said in case of a moderate tremor there will be landslides and those structures will become death traps for the dwellers. The Chittagong Development Authority, the city planner, is yet to take action against these illegal structures, while the responsibility of the Directorate of Environment is still merely confined to serving notices against the encroachers. Besides, the concerned departments often lay the blame on each other and point to the need for more effective laws to check encroachment.
Despite frequent occurrences of tragic disasters, there is seen no integrated national policy to take measures either for prevention of disasters or their management. Due to absence of a national disaster management policy, none is to be blamed for the incidents of disasters which cause huge loss of lives and properly. Disastrous incidents happen repeatedly as there is no coordination among different development organisations that carry out development work. As soon as such incidents take place, ministries and departments concerned are seen to be up and doing but afterwards things slow down as usual.
With the existing laws it is very difficult to stop indiscriminate cutting of hills and construction of illegal structures there. The picturesque Chittagong city, once known as the beauty of the East for its hills and seaside location, has lost its charm on the one hand and is facing serious environmental hazards on the other. Encroachment on open hill spaces, coupled with the disappearance of water bodies and wetlands in the city, are causing serious ecological imbalances.
THE nation will take time to recover from the shock. More than 100 people were killed and many more are still missing in terrible landslides and flood triggered by torrential rain in different areas of the hilly Chittagong district, including the port city on Monday last.
The disaster, the worst one in recent memory, must be a serious cause for a review of why such a tragedy had to occur. The foreign media have already termed it as one of the biggest man-made environmental disasters. Those who work with environment were giving warnings about an impending disaster due to large-scale hill cutting and destruction of forests.
In the last thirty years hundreds of hills have been destroyed by those plunderers who made fortune by cutting the hilly structures. What happened on Monday was nothing, but nature's response to the sordid activities. Who is responsible? Noted environmentalist Dr. Ainun Nishat says first of all the persons who indulged in the cutting of hills, the others are definitely the Department of Environment and the Chittagong Development Authority, who did not prevent the destruction of hills and forests. The department and the CDA must give an explanation to the nation for their failure to follow up the circular issued in 1982 regarding limits on the number of trees to be cut down. The rampant destruction of the hills went on and with that a relentless felling of trees, leaving the soil weak and tenuous. The people inhabiting these areas were not informed of the risks they faced due to such activities. An absence of warning was thus a potent reason why so many lives were lost.
Landslides have become a regular occurrence in hilly areas of Chittagong in recent time. Experts have previously warned of environmental disasters due to the government's failure to stop the illegal clearing of hill areas for housing. The landslides were very much linked to the cutting of hills in this region.
The cutting of hills has been responsible for the massive landslides that have killed at least a hundred persons and injured many others during the previous years. The foothills have been encroached upon by slum-dwellers and even people of the lower and middle classes, and they are now facing the impending catastrophe of disastrous landslides that usually occur in the torrential rains of the monsoon season. The cutting of the hills and encroachment on the foothills are not only endangering the lives of the citizens but also causing environmental disaster.
Chittagong was once a beautiful city, but now it has become downright unscenic because of the mutilated hills. A gang of fraudulent people in connivance with influential persons grab government land by cutting hills, building structures illegally and subsequently letting them to the poor people.
Monday's rain was one of the heaviest ones. But experts said in case of a moderate tremor there will be landslides and those structures will become death traps for the dwellers. The Chittagong Development Authority, the city planner, is yet to take action against these illegal structures, while the responsibility of the Directorate of Environment is still merely confined to serving notices against the encroachers. Besides, the concerned departments often lay the blame on each other and point to the need for more effective laws to check encroachment.
Despite frequent occurrences of tragic disasters, there is seen no integrated national policy to take measures either for prevention of disasters or their management. Due to absence of a national disaster management policy, none is to be blamed for the incidents of disasters which cause huge loss of lives and properly. Disastrous incidents happen repeatedly as there is no coordination among different development organisations that carry out development work. As soon as such incidents take place, ministries and departments concerned are seen to be up and doing but afterwards things slow down as usual.
With the existing laws it is very difficult to stop indiscriminate cutting of hills and construction of illegal structures there. The picturesque Chittagong city, once known as the beauty of the East for its hills and seaside location, has lost its charm on the one hand and is facing serious environmental hazards on the other. Encroachment on open hill spaces, coupled with the disappearance of water bodies and wetlands in the city, are causing serious ecological imbalances.