Flood: Seeking solutions to the causes

Causes of flood
The causes of flood are summarized below:

- Three major catchments the Ganges, the Brahmaputra and Meghna converge in the country. In normal years, peak of these three basins do not get together. However, when the peaks synchronise, then flood turns into deluge.

- Increasing communication networks also obstruct the drainage route, aggravate the flood depth. Sedimentation by huge silt (about one third of 2 billion tons annually) in the riverbed reduces the total conveyance capacity of the rivers.

- There is an absence of mega rivers in the northeastern districts, bordering India. The floodwater coming across the border has to travel a long distance to get discharged into the mighty Meghna or upstream Bailai, Surma and Kushyiara or old Brahmaputra rivers. The old Brahmaputra that branches out of the Jamuna meanders through the greater Mymensingh district. Instead of draining waters of the northeastern catchments during the flood season, it brings more water from the Jamuna delaying the discharge of the receding floodwater from Sunamganj and Sylhet area.

- Almost every year, the water bodies get filled up to the brim. There is hardly any safety margin left between the water line and dry land to prevent flooding. This safety margin needs to be increased by dredging or raising the bed or by constructing dikes. There is also the need to maintain balance between dry land and low flood plains so that floodwater can be accommodated and drained out in time.

- The reason for the recurrent floods are heavy rainfalls in the catchments due to global warming and consequent of the "el nino" and "La Nina" phenomena affecting natural situation of river beds and of flood plains.

- The other mentionable reasons are earth tremors, denudation of trees, river erosion, tidal changes, etc.

- Lack of co-operation from the neighbouring country is now a major concern. The "Farakkah" has caused a tremendous negative impact on our rivers.

Role of government
The govt is yet to reach a decision on a national flood protection programme although it has chartered a national water policy and approved the National Water Management Plan. The former emphasises on measures like embankment and dredging. During the past few decades, the successive governments executed a large number of flood control projects. (Total embankment-5695 kilometer, flood control/regulating structures-1695, drainage canal-4310 km.) at the advice of local and foreign experts spending crores of taka. But these flood control structures contributed little in reducing flood damage. The flood-effected area in fact has increased from annual 6.4 million hectares in 1954 to 9 million hectares in the 1980s. At present flood protection measure are taken on adhoc basis. In the existing budget, Tk. 1,132 crores has been allocated for water development. Now Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) together with Local Government Engineering Departments (LGED) are engaged in flood protection measures.

Role of NGOs
It is disclosed by the NGO Bureau that 1875 NGOs are working in Bangladesh. BRAC raised fund of Tk 14cr 16 lac, OXFAM Tk 5 crore 62 lac, World Vision Tk 5 crore, Concern Tk 1crore 3 lac for the purpose of flood rehabilitation. However, Finance Minister Mr. Saifur Rahman has vehemently opposed the activities of NGO and criticised their measures.

Probable solutions
Flood cannot be controlled, rather it should be managed. The nature of the management is suggested below:

- Our tendency is to construct big structures involving large amounts of money. It would be much better to spend money to restore wetlands, replace ground cover on watercourse, build check dams on small streams, move buildings off the flood plains and undertake other non-structural ways of reducing flood.

- Both public and private initiatives should be utilised in controlling flood. The government while constructing embankments should do so by dredging rivers instead of digging the nearby land. Private boats could complement the government ones. In winter, many of the rivers usually dry up or have little water flow. This is the time when riverbeds could be excavated to increase the rivers' holding capacity.

- Water management projects should be introduced. It enables us to produce 7.66 million tons of additional food grain in 1998, which is about 33 percent of the country's total production.

- Identification of genuinely distressed families, making food stocks available in local godowns with arrangements for quick replenishments from CSDs/silos, providing medicines, ORS, water purifying tablets and guarding against misappropriation of relief materials are the foremost tasks that are to be undertaken with utmost care, firmness and precision.

- NGOs are to be persuaded to mobilise their resources to augment government's relief effort.

- A massive rehabilitation programme is to be mounted to salvage the economy affected by the flood. VGF programme is one of them.

- Since, the government invoked assistance from the international community well ahead, response has been encouraging. Top priority should be assigned to agriculture, fisheries and livestock and rebuilding of basic infrastructure.

- Flood shelters like the cyclone shelter built in the coastal areas, should be constructed especially in the most flood prone places across the country. Such shelter should have adequate sanitary facilities in order to check the outbreak of diarrhoea and cholera.

- Flood must also be fought at the individual, family, community, local authority level. An individual can help by planting trees, a family can join hands with other families to raise the earthen wall around their houses, a community can think and come up with ways of how to protect the plinth of the shared homesteads, the local authority can initiate canal digging etc.

- According to the former chairperson of SPARSO Dr A M Chy we can rely on Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) to forecast flood.

- Last but not least, a dialogue between the two neighbouring countries should continue in this regard. It will help solve the bilateral problems prevailing now.

Conclusion
No one should do any politics taking recourse to the misery of flood. Flood should not be the tool of politics. Rather it should be a source to be united for the shake of greater interest of the nation. All should come forward with a view to mitigating the problem. Otherwise, it will only bring a lot of human misery and sufferings to the people.

Mohammad Mofidul Alam and Mohammad Asrafuddin are Lecturers, Department of Business Administration, International Islamic University, Chittagong, Dhaka Campus.