A difficult road to recovery in Sylhet

“One night of flooding, and everything I owned in my lifetime was gone,” says Monsur Ali as he walks in the aisle of a large paddy field. One year has already passed since one of the worst floods in Bangladesh. Although the situation has improved, entire families need support to recover before the new monsoon season arrives in the coming months of 2023.

In May 2022, the north-eastern region of Bangladesh was hit by the worst flooding in living memory. All communication networks, the public transport system, and essential service infrastructure were cut off.

Monsur, 42, lives in a village very close to the border between India and Bangladesh. The land is fertile here. Monsur’s father moved to this village many years ago to continue their family tradition of farming. Monsur kept this tradition going until this summer when a flood crept up on his farm at night, and the water washed away his tools, his harvested crops, and the hay for his cattle.

Remains of a bridge washed away by the flood in Sunamganj, Sylhet

Farmers and fishers fear famine

It has been five months since the flood and its devastating effect is still visible on Monsur’s house. Where tin walls once stood, thin cane rugs are now draped over ropes. There are holes in all corners of the house after the mud floor slid away, leaving five inches of empty space between the walls and the floor.

“Me and my son just carried my pregnant daughter-in-law and ran, so I couldn’t grab anything else,” Monsur recalls, leaving the house within the space of five minutes when the water came that night. When the water receded after three days, they returned to an empty house. Most of their clothes, important documents and household materials were gone. The ones left behind were floating around with rubbish and sanitary debris. The toilet behind the house now stands bare facing the cattle shed, both with no walls.

Monsur’s daughter shows where the water entered the house and destroyed the walls

While Monsur has found some labouring work in nearby villages, the family needs much more support. His daughter-in-law gave birth recently, so the family now has a new mouth to feed.

In a corner of his house, locally donated clothes are hung up. The family expects to face winter without warm clothes or blankets. The loss that worries Monsur most is his stock of food. He had just harvested 20 sacks of rice which were spoiled by the water. “This was to be my main source of food for eight months until the next harvest,” says Monsur.

Monsur’s new-born grandchild in the only room the family of five shares

Farmers like Monsur do not have their own land. They work on land owned by others and receive a portion of the harvested crops. So, he cannot plant now even if he wanted to. In addition, one of the landowners he works for sold his land after the flood. Today he and his crops are in limbo and his livelihood is at extreme risk.

Just next to Monsur lives Dipa Rani with her husband Taposh, two sons, and their families. The family makes fishing nets for a living. One of the two rooms of her already-congested shelter is now shared with an extra four people. Her sister’s family lost their house in the flood and moved in with Dipa. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) 7.1 million Bangladeshis were displaced by climate change in 2022.

“I have never had a backup plan because although floods are common here, they have never harmed us.” A lack of preparedness and uncertainty about upcoming natural disasters loom over Taposh, just as it does for the rest of village.

Taposh with one of his self-made fishing nets

Women lose decision-making power

Dipa and Taposh make fishing nets together. Since Sylhet has many rivers and other bodies of water, making a living has always been easy for them. In a month they would sell at least eight nets to fishers. “Since the flood I have only sold one net in five months,” says Dipa. Most fisheries and rivers lost their fish stocks due to the heavy and uncontrolled water flow.

In a community where their financial contributions help women gain responsibility for household decision-making, not being able to earn has impacted Dipa beyond just the financial struggle. “I have no say on how money is spent now, and I can’t change my profession or go and look for manual work elsewhere because I’m a woman.”

Dipa making a fishing net in front of her house

Cyclone Sitrang

A cyclone also hit Bangladesh in October 2022 and hampered the rebuilding efforts of the already flood-affected community.

There is an improvised stove made of mud in Dipa’s yard, with no protection from the wind. The makeshift toilet clad in torn cloth is only a few feet away. The path that leads to the toilet was the only part of the yard that was clean and levelled. Dipa did this for her younger son who is a person with physical disabilities. Unfortunately, the cyclone damaged the yard again and it is now left with an uneven surface. “I cannot keep fixing my home repeatedly. I am afraid another flood will come soon,” says Dipa.

Monsur shares similar thoughts - “The cyclone damaged half of the crops I replanted. With what is left, I might as well give up on the fields completely.”

Dipa made a makeshift stove in the yard when her kitchen was taken by the flood

Road to recovery

In June 2022, along with its local partners, Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) launched an emergency humanitarian assistance project for flood-affected communities in Sunamganj with funding support from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) and the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (NMFA). It has assisted people with cash for work and shelter rehabilitation and has also facilitated repairs to water sources and school roads. Overall, 66,208 people were supported in numerous ways.

“We have started with primary damage control, however there are further high priority needs that need to be met urgently. Menstrual hygiene, food security, restoration of livelihoods and alternative income-generation activities to name but a few,” says Golam Rabbani, the emergency response manager for NRC in Bangladesh. “Building community resilience to prevent future climate-driven disasters and displacement is our priority now.”

The community is building back the roads with the assistance of NRC and other partners

Assistance has arrived in Sylhet in many forms, but support falls far short of what is needed. Bridges remain destroyed, children are still out of school and without proper sanitation water supplies are becoming contaminated. There is danger of diseases spreading rapidly and most importantly – a food crisis has already become a reality.

Across the country, a changing climate is changing lives. Significant efforts have been undertaken to provide an emergency response to meet immediate needs, but sustained humanitarian funding is needed urgently to help people recover and rebuild their lives.

In 2022, humanitarian resources significantly decreased in Bangladesh while humanitarian needs increased; this is set to continue into 2023. Now is the time for the international community to demonstrate solidarity for the country and prevent an ever-spiralling scenario.