11. Beginning August The monsoon rains lighten and paddy is planted . End August Torrential monsoon rains return. Paddy is washed away . Floodwater enters house. Lose possessions. Mid September The rains stop. Borrow money to buy more seeds. Re-plant paddy . End September Unexpected monsoon rains return, heavier than before. Several homes are washed away , some villagers die , many children get diarrhoea . October In debt . Borrow more money for medicine and paddy seed. Family is poorer and weaker to cope with more extreme weather. July Monsoon rains are heavier than usual. Floodwater enters the house. Some possessions are washed away.
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Editor's Notes
IMPACT The impact of a natural disaster is anything but natural. It is based on poverty and inequality (2). (Mohammed Salem Hawlader continues…) …‘ It was drizzling in the evening on the day of the cyclone and there was a strong wind. We didn’t eat because we were so worried, we live right by the river and wondered if we would be alright. First a branch fell on our house and it collapsed, so we moved to another house, where about 50 or 60 people were sheltering. Suddenly a 15 foot wave came and washed away the river embankment. Water was coming in from every direction. Another tree fell on the house so people climbed on to the roof. My wife was washed under the house and Riddoy, my 6-year-old son was washed away. I managed to grab my wife but he floated away. I tied my other children to the trees high above the water. Hassan, my 8-year-old, lost consciousness. We stayed there cold, wet and shivering till dawn.
IMPACT The impact of a natural disaster is anything but natural. It is based on poverty and inequality (3). ‘ When the water went away we got everybody down. Three days later we found Riddoi’s body and buried him in a communal grave just by the river. The children scream in their sleep. They are searching for something, for rice, for Riddoy.’
IMPACT Smaller ‘shocks’ can be more damaging than mega-disasters. Picture 1: July, Monsoon rains are heavier than usual. Floodwater enters the house. Some possessions are washed away. Picture 2: Beginning of August. The monsoon rains became lighter and paddy rice is planted. Picture 3: End of August. Torrential monsoon rains return. Paddy is washed away. Floodwater enters house, lose possessions. Picture 4: Mid- September. The rains stop. Borrow money to buy more paddy seeds. Replant paddy. Picture 5: End of September. Unexpected monsoon rains return, heavier than before. Several homes are washed away, some villagers dies, many children got diarrhoea. Picture 6: October. In debt. Borrow more money to buy medicine and paddy seed. Family is poorer and weaker to cope with more extreme weather. Sometimes when we hear about a mega-disaster like Cyclone Sidr on the news it is reported as an isolated event – a ‘here-today-gone-tomorrow’ experience. We don’t often hear about smaller shocks which can be more damaging than mega-disasters. This flow-chart shows some of the shocks the area faced in 2007. It started with the monsoon which always brings rain to the region between June and August. In 2007, it was unusually heavy. Flooding in June, August and September caused widespread devastation. Ruined crops, sickness and debt can knock a family down time and time again. No social safety net or insurance makes them poorer. So, can you imagine just how devastating it was when Cyclone Sidr hit in October? Extra A rise in small- and medium-scale disasters is a particularly worrying trend. When a lot of small shocks occur at the same time, or follow one another very quickly, they can merge into a ‘mega disaster’. This can push poor communities into a downward spiral of poverty, making them even more vulnerable and less likely to recover.
SOLUTIONS DRR (2) Through the DRR project, children are learning how to react in a disaster. If there is a cyclone shelter near by – they must go there. The small picture here is of a shelter in Bangladesh. Assam doesn’t have any of these. Instead, students are taught to get onto a raised platform in their houses. They learn about putting their valuable possessions in a safe place above the floodwaters, and to go to higher land if the floodwater reaches the platform. Extra There have already been big improvements in dealing with big disasters. In Bangladesh, for example, over 138,000 people perished in the 1991 cyclone. Subsequent cyclones, even the devastating Sidr, the biggest since 1991, killed far fewer people. This is due to cyclone shelters, community-based evacuation plans, early warnings and the mobilisation of volunteers. In the countryside, raised villages and flood shelters to which whole communities can retreat from the foods are common sights.
SOLUTIONS DRR (7) The students pass on this information they learn to their families. This has led to several community meetings with everyone discussing how to protect their livelihoods from flooding. In 2007, all of the crops were washed away and many of the villagers are in debt. They have decided to switch to cultivating crops that can be harvested before the flood season. Many plan to grow off-season vegetables and bananas, and varieties of rice that will grow high enough to remain above the water when the floods come. Others are talking about setting up specialist fisheries as these are more likely to survive the flooding.
SOLUTIONS DRR (4) People will need boats to get to higher land in an emergency. Here, some of the older students are trying out a canoe they made from banana plants, bamboo and tarpaulin. First Aid training is important. They learn how to rescue people from trees, especially if they have injuries like broken arms or legs.
SOLUTIONS DRR (5) The men are making a life-jackets from recycled bottles. They are showing a group of young people how to make their own, and use it, to help them swim to safety in a flood. Swimming lessons happen most days with the older students teaching the younger ones. They learn how to understand currents and how to swim to safety in a disaster. This is an older student testing out his life-jacket made from recycled bottles.
