South Asia floods leave nearly 300,000 Bangladeshis in emergency shelters

[ghazi52]

South Asia floods leave nearly 300,000 Bangladeshis in emergency shelters​

AFP
August 24, 2024

A vehicle carrying a boat and rescue workers move through flood waters in Feni, southeastern Bangladesh on August 23. — AFP
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Nearly 300,000 Bangladeshis were taking refuge in emergency shelters Saturday from floods that inundated vast areas of the low-lying South Asian country, disaster officials said.

The floods were triggered by heavy monsoon rains and have killed at least 42 people in Bangladesh and India since the start of the week, many in landslides.

“My house is completely inundated,” Lufton Nahar, 60, told AFP from a relief shelter in Feni, one of the worst-hit districts near the border with India’s Tripura state.

“Water is flowing above our roof. My brother brought us here by boat. If he hadn’t, we would have died.”

The nation of 170 million people is crisscrossed by hundreds of rivers and has seen frequent floods in recent decades. Monsoon rains cause widespread destruction every year but climate change is shifting weather patterns and increasing the number of extreme weather events.

Highways and rail lines were damaged between the capital Dhaka and the main port city of Chittagong, making access to badly flooded districts difficult and disrupting business activity.

The flooding also comes just weeks after a student-led revolution toppled its government.

Among the worst affected areas is Cox’s Bazar, a district home to around 1m Rohingya refugees from neighbouring Myanmar.

Tripura state disaster agency official Sarat Kumad Das told AFP that 24 people had been killed on the Indian side of the border since Monday.

Another 18 had been killed in Bangladesh, according to disaster management ministry secretary Md Kamrul Hasan.

“285,000 people are living in emergency shelters,” he said, adding that 4.5m people in total had been affected.

When the floods hit, Bangladesh was recovering from weeks of civil unrest that culminated in the August 5 toppling of autocratic ex-leader Sheikh Hasina.

With an interim government led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus still finding its feet, ordinary Bangladeshis have been crowdfunding relief efforts.

They have been organised by the same students who led the protests that sparked the ouster of Hasina, who remains in India after fleeing Dhaka.

Crowds visited Dhaka University on Friday to offer cash donations as students loaded rice sacks and crates of bottled water onto vehicles for areas affected by the deluge.

Much of Bangladesh is made up of deltas where the great Himalayan rivers, the Ganges and the Brahmaputra, wind towards the sea after coursing through India. Several tributaries of the two transnational rivers were still overflowing.

However, forecasts showed rain was likely to ease in the coming days.

 

[hossain]

In BD, it's a political flood created by Modi's water terrorism

 

[AZADPAKISTAN2009]

India has started the same game from 1947-1971 , the flood game
Using water bomb

 

[Cryptonian]

In BD, it's a political flood created by Modi's water terrorism

India has started the same game from 1947-1971 , the flood game
Using water bomb

It's not India's fault that Pakistan and Bangladesh didn't spend enough on building dams after independence. Pakistan has been able to spend more than Bangladesh thanks to Indian and American monetory support , hence floods are not as frequent. Otherwise who can forget the mega flood few years back.

 

[AZADPAKISTAN2009]

Yes it is a issue , Bangladesh need to sort out to find a engineering solution to divert waters to sea rather into the cities

However some mechanism should exist -to not allow release of so much water at once

 

[Vikramaditya1]

BD is a delta unlike areas where dams are constructed. It requires hills and/or large swathes of areas, which BD cannot provide. Climate change is making things worse.

 

[ghazi52]

Death toll from Bangladesh floods rises to 59​

Anadolu Agency
September 1, 2024

People wade through flood water carrying sacks amid severe flooding in the Fazilpur area of Feni in this file photo from August 26. — Reuters/File

The death toll in Bangladesh from heavy rainfall and subsequent floods caused by river overflows continues to rise, with media reporting 59 deaths as of late Saturday.

The Dhaka Tribune said monsoon rains have wreaked havoc across the country for nearly two weeks, severely impacting millions of lives.

According to authorities, the floods have affected approximately 5.5 million people in 11 districts, the majority of whom live near the Indian border.

The number of fatalities has risen to 59, with 37 of them in the northeastern regions of Feni and Cumilla.

Around 600 healthcare teams are on the ground in the affected areas, while over 500,000 people have been relocated to 3,403 temporary shelters as a result of the disaster.

Earlier this week, disaster officials reported that river waters in low-lying Bangladesh are receding after days of deadly floods but 300,000 people are still in emergency shelters requiring aid.

The heavy floods, which killed at least 18 people, have added to the challenges of a new government that took charge this month after a student-led revolution.

Rescue teams, including joint forces of the army, air force and navy, are helping those forced from their homes and bringing aid to those who have lost everything, disaster management minister Faruk-i-Azam said.

“The flood situation is improving as the flood water started to recede,” the minister said.

More than 307,000 people are in shelters and more than 5.2 million have been affected by the floods, the ministry said.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif reached out to the interim government of Bangladesh, extending an offer of aid to address the catastrophic impacts of recent flooding.

In his letter, PM Shehbaz expressed “profound sympathies and concern” over the extensive damage and loss of life caused by the floods, pledging solidarity and support from Pakistan.

 

[ghazi52]

Bangladesh floods death toll rises to 71 amid disease concerns​

More than 580,000 families are still marooned in 11 flood-hit districts

AFP
September 03, 2024

Dozens of people died in Bangladesh floods: PHOTO: REUTERS

The death toll from floods in Bangladesh rose to 71 on Tuesday with millions of people still stranded in devastated areas and increasing concern about outbreaks of waterborne disease as the inundation recedes.

The floods, triggered by relentless monsoon rains and runoff from upstream waterways, have wreaked havoc over the past two weeks, causing widespread destruction and affecting around five million people.

More than 580,000 families are still marooned in 11 flood-hit districts, and in urgent need of food, clean water, medicine and dry clothing. Nearly 500 medical teams were helping provide treatment, with the army, air force, navy, and the border guard assisting in relief efforts.

Floods ease in Bangladesh but 300,000 still in shelters

Authorities are now focusing on preventing the spread of waterborne diseases, a common aftermath of such disasters, and ensuring the availability of clean drinking water.

 

[Rollno21]

India has started the same game from 1947-1971 , the flood game
Using water bomb

Sorry it's India's fault that it rains in Monsoon.