Red Cross Blogs

Disaster Déjà Vu

By Claire Durham
November 30, 2009 at 11:34 am

‘It’s like déjà vu all over again’ I thought when I heard it was the anniversary (almost to the day) of the 1988 Bangladesh cyclone which at the time was the worst cyclone in almost 20 years. I am more familiar with cyclone Sidr, those of you who regularly read my blog will know that I was part the first logistics Emergency Response Unit to arrive in country when it struck a little over two years ago. During my time there I had heard about the 1970 cyclone (Bhola; 500,000 people lost their lives) and the 1991 cyclone (138,000 deaths) but the 1988 one had crept under my radar.

A few minutes googling and I was up to speed. The seemingly unnamed cyclone has the dubious accolade of causing the highest level of flooding ever. Around 62% of the country was under water. Bangladesh is about the size of England and Wales so by my reckoning that makes everywhere from Plymouth up to Leicester submerged.  I don’t know about you but my home would certainly have been waterlogged. The information on numbers affected was patchy but Bangladesh is the most densely populated country in the world with around 140 million residents so there would have been millions affected.

This déjà vu sensation was somewhat heightened because I’ve just returned from Bangladesh. I had been part of a team assessing the possibility of rebuilding houses after cyclone Aila which made landfall back in May this year. We travelled through the south western parts of the country mainly in the Khulna and Satkhira districts. The water still hasn’t receded in some places so that makes it impossible to start rebuilding at the moment. Bangladesh is a wet country anyhow with hundreds of rivers. Combined with the fact that it is one of the largest exporters of prawns in the world there are inland ponds literally everywhere. Therefore the assessment was a little bit tricky as quite a lot of the ground seemed to be waterlogged but it was hard to tell if it was cyclone damage or fish ponds!

The trip was conducted using most forms of transport known to mankind; land cruiser, ferry, small engine boat, motorbike and pedal rickshaw. Oh yes and the infamous Bangladesh bamboo bridge. One thinish bamboo pole strung across a small stream and another thinner pole higher up and slightly out of reach that acts as the hand rail. One woman seeing me visibly quaking, strode across said bridge and walked backwards guiding as sure footed as a mountain goat. Sure footed on her part, I just sweated and stumbled across. My dignity may have been broken but at least none of my limbs were.

Accompanying me on the trip was a chap called Afsar from the Bangladeshi Red Crescent. During our time together he told me how as a young boy, he had survived the 1970 Bhola cyclone. He described the howling of the wind and the driving rain and how the decision to flee their house and take shelter at a relative’s home had ultimately saved his life. Afsar has worked for the Red Crescent for many years but he also  understands what it’s like to be personally affected by disaster.

We got a chance to visit Kuakata, practically as far south as you can go in Bangladesh without paddling in the Bay of Bengal.  This is the site where the British Red Cross built houses after cyclone Sidr. We had a chance to chat with the villagers over a cup of tea about how their lives had changed. The new houses are built on a platform to protect from flooding and the concrete frame and tin sheeting means that they are much stronger and more robust. As well as losing property, people’s lives are affected in the aftermath of a cyclone when their usual jobs or ways to make money are lost. We have helped people with training and cash grants to set up new businesses such as duck rearing.

Whilst having dinner on our last night in Kuakata, I noticed a poster showing a stunning scenic  photograph and emblazoned with the words “Come and visit Bangladesh before the tourists do” I’m not sure the tourists have cottoned on yet, but I’ve read the Lonely Planet cover to cover and I know there is a wealth of things to see and do.  Sadly some time soon the new slogan may well have to read “Come see Bangladesh before the rising sea levels do”.

Bangladesh is regularly battered by more natural disasters than almost any other country. It would be easy to think that it’s a waste of money building anything when the next disaster is just around the corner.  But having been there, I know that it’s not the case. 

Our on-going work in preparing the communities by coordinating evacuations to the cyclone shelters and teaching first aid skills really does save lives. I was struck yet again by the tenacity of the people I met who go about rebuilding and replanting and just generally getting themselves back on their feet.  I was mightily heartened to catch a TV documentary about the new strain of rice being developed particularly for Bangladesh that should be able to withstand being under salt water for up to two weeks and still continue to flourish. Hope indeed!

There is an old Bengali phrase that goes “pity without help does little good”. I feel tremendously passionate and compassionate about the Bangladeshi people and I like to think my actions have helped in some small way; do you want to help too?

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Tags: Aila, Bangladesh, Bangladeshi Red Crescent, Bhola, cyclone, cyclone shelters, disaster, Emergencies, emergency response, emergency response unit, First aid, recovery, Sidr

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This entry was posted on Monday, November 30th, 2009 at 11:34 am and is filed under Emergencies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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