Facing the flood

The reader will get a full picture of flood 2004 from a wide rage of perspectives from this book as it details out the causes and phases of the flood and also offers a comparative viewpoint from the perspective of earlier floods. The volume reports on the responses to flood both from the government and non-government parts based on its field survey experiences, and proposes a public policy package to address the post flood situation of the economy.

The book provides a comprehensive breakdown of its internationally accepted and clearly defined methodology of damage estimate. The book also remains transparent with respect to its sources of information as the author says, "CPD's damage estimate is… based on the published and unpublished data of various government ministries and agencies... CPD only supplemented this information with its field survey, focused group discussions with the flood victims, and consultation with experts". This is worthy of appreciation as in most cases often the readers are not able to validate estimates since no background materials and methodologies are provided. The book also provides sectoral breakdown of the damage estimate by categorising it into economic classes, i.e. damages to agriculture, industry, health and education sectors.

A Relief Distribution Intensity Index is also provided in the report which compares the intensity of flood damage with the intensity of availability of relief to ensure relative distribution of flood relief. However, the study reports that "there was a strong and significant negative rank correlation ( 0.64) between flood damage intensity and the amount of per head relief availability". This essentially means that people in the most affected areas often received less percapita relief, while less affected areas got more per capita relief!

The volume also presents a public policy package for addressing the post-flood situation during the fiscal year 2004-05, which provides both short-term and medium-term measures. The policy suggestions cover a number of key macroeconomic issues including public finance, credit expansion, inflation and also the issue of safety net. However, this is not an exhaustive post-flood relief and rehabilitation programme as the book points out, "the policy recommendations are made in the areas where CPD has some competence". The annexes of the book are helpful in providing many key information. For example the chronology of flood events will enable a reader to know about key dates related to flood 2004, where and when the flood started, and when the government first started relief. The coloured maps illustrated in the book will also help the readers to understand key features of flood at a glance.

CPD's Flood 2004 Study is definitely a demonstration of civil society's capacity to contribute to issues of national importance. Such a scrutiny on the part of non-state actors helps develop accountability and transparency in the development process, and thus deserves appreciation and encouragement. The book, jointly published by CPD and the University Press Limited, is expected to be an important contribution to the literature on flood and development in the context of Bangladesh. It is hoped that policymakers, policy analysts, developmental activists and others with interest in Bangladesh's development process will benefit from this publication.

M Syeed Ahamed is Senior Research Associate, CPD