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Water Water Everywhere, Not A Drop To Drink! |
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Well, life saver water sometimes becomes hard to handle! Bangladesh is one of the low lying lands. Measurements say more than 40% of land in Bangladesh is only 1 meter above the sea level. That's a countable reason for this year's flood in Bangladesh, besides the heavy rainfall in the wet season is also responsible for this. These are basically the natural causes, which is hard to control. But sometimes nature is not the only one to be blamed. We Bangladeshis are sometimes so careless about nature, environment, specially the repercussions of the damages we make to our mother planet earth. Before drawing the big picture of this year's flood in Bangladesh, I must add a few things. Firstly, urbanization in Bangladesh is so unplanned and mismanaged that there are hardly any land to soak the rain water, since the whole land is covered with high rise buildings and pitch ground. And deforestation is another contributor to the country's environment disaster. Deforestation causes the soil to erode and fill the river bed. For which the low lying lands are over flowed with flooded water. More over, the drainage system is not that well managed. Most Bangladeshis are literate, that's true, but not scientifically literate, which makes them throw their garbage straight to the drainage system. This makes the consequence of the flood worse. Now, I can present some collected data that may not make you happy, but surely can make you conscious about your stability. This year, since 13 Aug 2014, continuous rainfall in north and northeastern Bangladesh, together with the onrush of water from upstream, have caused flash floods in low-lying and densely populated areas. More than 800,000 people have been affected, including 500,000 displaced. As of 25 Aug, humanitarian actors on the ground report nine deaths. And by 1 Sep, the number of affected people had increased to 2.8 million. Among these, more than 57,000 families (275,000 people) are displaced, including more than 31,000 families (150,000 people) whose homes have been totally inundated and destroyed. A total of 99 floods shelters are active in the affected districts, housing some of the displaced population while others have settled in along elevated roads and with host families. Now, the question is, what we can do, what is for us to contribute? It's true that we can not fight nature or the rainfall or we can not even rise up our land so that the flood can't affect. But there are surely some thing for us to do. There is a saying, little drops of water makes the ocean. We individually may be counted as a little drop of water. But together we can make the ocean. How? There are so many ways!- we can raise our voice through campaigns and workshops to create environment literacy. We can involve the young learners to work for the betterment of the environment, we can make them scientifically literate so that they not only contribute themselves, but also they involve others to contribute as well. It's a chain thing. And believe me, it works! |
 
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10 Comments
Floods and landslides are common in Bangladesh during the monsoon season, when annual rains swell rivers already carrying water from melting snow in the Himalayas where thecountry's main rivers originate. The rivers are huge by global standards, and can inundate over 30% of the land mass at a time.
There are so many causes of flooding in Bangladesh like- Mansoon rainfall, Deforestation of the Himalaya, Cyclones from the Bay of Bengal cause and contribute to coastal flooding, The Himalaya also forces relief or orographic rainfall, increasing rainfall totals and then river levels further and so on.
Posted 27-09-2014 20:05
No nation is spared of the fury of nature. It is the wake up call my friends. Wake up & conserve the nature else the man kind will be swallowed in a jiffy.
Despite so much technological advancement man is a tiny little helpless creature as compared with nature's ferocity.
Water is a precious life saver & if we abuse it becomes a life taker.
Posted 15-09-2014 19:42
So sad to know such an extent of damage & human losses in Bangladesh floods. Even in India , Phillippines , Korea similar or more severe floods have happened this year. Looks like this year is one of the nature's most turbulent year.. There is a debate around the world that whether these floods are caused by nature or man causes or triggers these hazards by deforestation and pollution .We can??t ignore that deforestation and global warming are 2 main man-made causes that lead to such disastrous floods . Large scale deforestation leads to loose soil and therefore huge floods. E.g In China, a flood affected the lives of 250 million people and caused large scale devastation and the El Nino was cited as the main cause.
I fully agree with you that there is an urgent , immediate need to spread awareness about actions to stop deforestation , curb pollution and adopt sustainable , eco friendly practices . We must use every opportunity , every gathering , every meeting , every session in outer/inner circles to talk about need to protect environment so that the word spreads wide and everyone is aware of his responsibility towards environment. Thanks for highlighting this and sharing Bangladesh tragic situation. May God protect it.
Posted 15-09-2014 02:05
This year, Korea also has experienced severe raining during the summer. Cars were washed away due to increased water level and many died. For low-located countries like Bangladesh, making credible water management system is the matter of survival. 500,000 people is huge loss for any country in the world. I think strong and enough drainage system and education for maintaining the drainages well is first needed one to reduce further loss.
Posted 11-09-2014 14:26
Hello Tapashi! I agree with what you said "it's a chain thing". The most effective way to start solving this problem is to educate people, especially the young minds, about the effects, both short-term and long-term effects, of their actions in the environment. Flooding is also very rampant here in the Philippines because too many people neglect the environment.
Posted 10-09-2014 20:59
yes I agree with you Water water everywhere but not a drop to drink. In our area also we are suffering with water deficiency. We are connecting ditches and drainages with the water resources and we put garbages everywhere and the rain water also become polluted. We should take necessary steps in waste management and rain water harvesting and water treatment in industries and waste water plants etc. In India same day in Jammumand Kashmit and in north side huge flood is affecting but we are waiting for our drinking water supply. The ground water level is going down and down every year. Why cann't we make use of surplus water during floods in one place to the water needed place. Only the government make new laws for distribution of water in a same country.
Posted 10-09-2014 16:22
Yes Tapashi, we can make young learners to work for the betterment of the environment, we can make them scientifically literate. I fully agree with you.
Small changes like disposal of garbage in Bins, recycling, reducing wastages etc. may bring a revolution.
Further, we must conduct workshops in neighborhoods to create & spread awareness. And then ask the audience to conduct similar workshops down the line. As the chain spreads the message will also go across huge population.
Posted 10-09-2014 13:36
Thanks a lot, dear... for your patient reading and generous comments!
Posted 10-09-2014 10:59
Thailand faced this problem few years ago. It was horrible. Water everywhere with floating dead fish and trash. The flood was so serious that I can see catfish swimming in my backyard. However, after the flood, we started to rethink about mother nature. Actually, we've hurt her so much that it's quite justify for her to punish us once in a while. We polluted her veins, clawed out skins (forest) and pollute her breaths. It may sounds dramatic, but it's true. So sad that we haven't been grateful for this planet.
Posted 10-09-2014 10:32
Agree that we can't fight the nature, but we all know that due to our own greedy actions only, nature becomes so furious sometimes and Bangladesh/India has seen those cases very frequently in recent times...People need to understand this and for a long term benefit to the mankind, all of us should work...I agree with you that lot of mindset need to be changed within the common people also like garbage management etc..
Posted 10-09-2014 03:57