DanChurchAid
Bangladesh
After the storm
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LHCB - ACT International
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| Damage by Cyclone Sidr in Bangladesh. Over 3.400 people perished due to the 250 km/h winds that swept though Bangladesh in November 2007. |
By Erik Johnson, Relief Coordinator, DanChurchAid Denmark, ejo@dca.dk
By the time they got the warning, the winds had already reached over 200 kilometers an hour: there was no chance to evacuate, and the cyclone shelter was more than two kilometers away.
Just 10 minutes later a massive tidal surge came in from the river, a giant wall of water that swept over everything in its path. It jumped the embankment, and flattened all the houses of this village of Choto Labongola in Southern Bangladesh.
| Livestock and Livelihoods |
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| Bangladeshis’ Most Pressing Needs One of the most surprising things our team discovered in our conversations with Cyclone-hit Bangladeshis was their most pressing need: restoration of possibilities for earning a living. More than food distribution, every one we spoke with was anxious to get off of relief assistance and back to the livelihood they had earned before the Cyclone. Some even requested that distribution stop immediately in favour of micro credit and livelihoods rehabilitation (DCA has already stopped general ration distribution). Many of those we spoke with asked for replacement of the goat herds that they had lost in the storm. While chickens were also cited as an option, chickens do not have same earning potential as goats. In the low lying coastal villages hardest hit by the Cyclone, small livestock herding and small business are the two main livelihood options open to women. Fishermen and shrimp farmers also made up a significant group of those affected. As part of its assistance project DCA will be providing goats (with a special focus on women), fishing boats, and fishing nets. |
For Marjina Begum, the waters were simply too strong.
“I held on to her as tight as I could, but I couldn’t… the water was too strong.”
As she told the team from DanChurchAid (DCA) the story of her loss, she broke into tears and couldn’t stop.
The body of her daughter was recovered the following day, and was buried in the village.
The poor are worst hit
When we visited the village without our national partner Dushtha Shasthya Kendra (DSK) we heard countless such stories, and saw the aftermath of cyclone Sidr, which hit Southern Bangladesh in mid November.
The cyclone was still in evidence everywhere; flattened houses, fallen trees, and a landscape littered with debris.
As we walked toward the river’s edge I met a man by the side of a grave where his wife and two children were buried. Though the cyclone happened over two months ago, he was still too shaken to talk about what happened, and we didn’t press him with questions.
In all, 14 people from this small village were buried here, many of them children or elderly.
These people are the poorest of the poor, hit by the cyclone harder than anyone else; they live on land without title in low-lying land areas on the river’s edge. During the best of times, they eat two meals a day.
Now, after the Cyclone, many will seek menial labor in the cities. After disasters like these, it’s common that many young Bangladeshi women end up in brothels.
All is gone
We met Reksona Begum outside the makeshift dwelling that she’s cobbled together after her home was demolished by the waves and wind, and where she and her disabled husband live with their two small children.
They have received food assistance from DanChurchAid’s partner DSK immediately after the storm, as well as a card from the government entitling her to future distributions, but they have yet to receive any rice.
©
Erik Johnson
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| Reksona Begum and her daughter |
To make matters worse, the price of rice on the market has increased by 30 percent in just a few days, due in part to the agricultural losses from the Cyclone.
“I don’t know how I am going to get by. How can I live?” she asks.
“I had 12 goats before the storm. All gone.”
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| Non Food Items (NFI) and Food Package, Bangladesh 2008 |
Asked of her plans, she has received 5,000 taka from the government to repair her flattened house, and is reluctant to use the money for anything else, but feels she has no choice.
“5,000 taka to repair a house, it’s nothing. It’s impossible. I will probably use the money to buy chickens. I can buy at most 20 small chicks with that money, and after some time, I can live off the eggs. Until then, I don’t know what to do.
“It’s impossible. My husband can do nothing. I am the only one to provide for my family. What can I do?”
Alam Faki said he used to be lucky. With his own fish ponds, he was able to earn a living that made him a little better off than the rest of the community. But now, he says:
“I am even worse off than the poorest of the poor.”
©
Erik Johnson
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| Millions have been affected and hundreds of thousand families have been made homeless. Recovering livelihoods is by far the biggest challenge facing the people now. |
Lost a fishery
Whereas they can more easily resume traditional livelihoods activities and are eligible for relief assistance, he lost a fishery worth over 300,000 taka, much of it financed on debt.
He has appealed to the government for assistance, but doesn’t expect to get any. He didn’t even get the 5,000 taka others received for the loss of their homes, because according to his previous assets, he’s not among the most vulnerable.
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Erik Johnson
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| Man who lost his wife and two kids |
Recovering their livelihoods is by far the biggest challenge facing these people now. Nearly all of them have lost their productive assets, and many are already in debt to local banks and local moneylenders; this calamity will only drive them deeper into poverty.
DanChurchAid and DSK will be providing at least 1,000 goats, 200 fishing boats and 100 fishing nets to cooperative associations, as well as tube wells and latrines.
But this won’t make everyone in the community happy. Most of the fishermen were rented at high cost from local ‘fishing lords’ who profited from the rentals.
With DCA and DSK providing the nets and boats, some fishermen will no longer be beholden to the fishing lords.
©
Erik Johnson
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| Dulu Begum |
“We’ll cope somehow”
Dulu Begum owned a small shop with groceries, financed by three separate loans.
“They’re all gone now, washed away. My husband is a rickshaw puller.”
She’s also worried how she’ll pay school fees for her two small children.
But when she’s asked amongst a group of other women in her village how they’ll cope, all the women laugh.
“We’ll cope somehow,” they all agree, smiling.
In fact, despite their tremendous suffering and the insurmountable odds that now face them, it’s a message we heard again and again. We heard countless stories of courage and hope. Many people have said that they no longer want relief assistance such as food distribution.
Their only need, they say, is for productive assets to enable them to regain their livelihoods.
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