11 May 2011 17:22
Source: Alertnet
By Syful Islam
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AlertNet) – Power-hungry Bangladesh has doubled the number of homes with solar-generated electricity systems to 800,000 over the last year.
Demand for the systems is growing as the country curbs new connections to its overburdened power grid and as costs for the solar panels come down, according to a range of non-profit groups now providing them across the country.
“You can call it a green revolution since our combined efforts are helping light remote villages and reduce carbon emissions,” said Abser Kamal, chief executive officer of Grameen Shakti, an organization that promotes the use of renewable energy in Bangladesh, in part by installing solar home systems and providing market-rate small loans to help people purchase them.
The company hopes to install an additional half million of the systems this year, largely in rural areas, he said in a telephone interview with AlertNet.
The systems use solar cells to convert sunlight to electricity. A typical $300 home unit allows the user to power light bulbs, a television and a fan.
Over half the households in Bangladesh, one of the world’s poorest countries, lack a connection to the national power grid, according to government statistics. The country’s power plants can generate about 4,200 megawatts of electricity but demand is more than 5,500 megawatts a day, meaning many would-be users regularly lack power.
The government has committed to producing at least 5 percent of the country’s power through renewable sources by 2015, and 10 percent by 2020. As part of that effort, Solarium Power Limited (SPL), a private firm, has been given permission to install an 18-megawatt solar power plant expected to cost 2 billion taka ($27 million). The plant is expected to cut Bangladesh’s carbon emissions by 100,545 tonnes a year.
But home-based solar panels are also playing a role. Groups like Grameen Shakti that are helping install the systems hope to bring them to a total of 35 million users in Bangladesh by 2015. Last year, Grameen Shakti installed 200,600 of the household solar units.
“The demand for (the) system is rising enormously,” said Ruhul Quddus, the head of Rural Services Foundation, a Bangladeshi development charity that is also installing the solar units. “Each month we are connecting 35,000 new households. It has huge potential in the remote villages which have no possibility to be connected to the national power grid for 50 years at its current rate of expansion.”
The home solar units also are providing a new source of income for some Bangladeshi families, particularly in rural areas, he said.
“With a small (solar home) connection one can power four lamps and one black and white television set. Some people use one or two lines and lend the rest (of the power) to others to earn money,” Quddus said.
A typical home solar system costs 20,000 taka ($300), with users paying 15 percent of the cost as a down payment and the rest over 36 months at an interest rate of 6 percent.
The government-owned Infrastructure Development Company Limited (IDCOL) is supporting the program by providing credit at 5 to 8 percent interest to the charities installing the systems.
Monir Hossain, chief of SolarEn, a foundation launched last year to expand the solar home systems to urban areas, said poor people are now particularly interested in solar energy because the monthly installment payment for a home system are cheaper than the cost of a month’s worth of kerosene and candles.
“The monthly kerosene bill for four lamps stands at 1,600 taka ($23) whereas the installment for a (solar unit) is only 750 taka ($11). This is cutting their costs by almost half and also reducing carbon emissions, saving the environment,” he said.
Solar power use is surging in urban areas in part because the government has stopped providing new connections to the national power grid as a result of continuing power shortages. Recently, solar power systems were installed in the prime minister’s office, the Central Bank building and the new offices of Grameenphone, a telecom giant.
Solar power is also being used increasingly for heating, irrigation, mobile phone base stations and small three-wheel vehicles. Realtors are becoming interested on solar energy since they have no other choice after being refused national grid connections for their newly built projects.
Jamshed Ahmed, a resident in Noakhali district who purchased one of the solar home systems, told Bangladesh’s national news agency that the connection has improved his life.
“My seven-member family and our neighbors can now enjoy TV programmes at home regularly. Now we can become aware of the country's current affairs,” he said.
Syful Islam is a journalist with the Financial Express newspaper in Bangladesh. He can be reached at youths1990@yahoo.com
Monday, May 23, 2011
Early warning system aims to save fishermen's lives
18 Apr 2011 16:36
Source: alertnet // Syful Islam
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AlertNet): Mamtaz Begum still remembers the day 12 years ago when her husband Ansar set off from his village of South Tetulbaria, in Bangladesh’s Barguna district, for a seven-day fishing trip.
“It was a sunny day and there was no sign of storm. So my husband along with his colleagues began the trip to the sea,” she said.
But a sudden storm arose in the Bay of Bengal and the trawler carrying 24-year-old Ansar and other fishermen sank. All the men drowned, leaving Begum a widow in her early 20s, with children to care for and a precarious future.
“My husband’s disappearance left us in the sea,” she said. “We are now leading a very poor life.”
Serious storms off the coast of Bangladesh are increasing in frequency, endangering the lives and livelihoods of Bangladeshi fishermen. According to Ahsan Uddin Ahmed, executive director of the Dhaka-based Centre for Global Change (CGC), between 140,000 and 160,000 households of coastal Bangladesh depend on fishing for their livelihood.
Ziaul Hoque Mukta, a policy manager for Oxfam in Bangladesh, said that in each of the past three years the country experienced 10 to 14 storms significant enough to earn a Signal III warning level, which indicates the likelihood of very rough and potentially dangerous seas. Thirty years ago, just four or five such warnings were issued each year, he said.
“The increased number of dangerous signal storms indicates that (an) unstable situation has risen in the sea,” Mukta said. An Oxfam study suggests this is likely due to climate change, he said.
To address the growing problem, the Centre for Global Change and Oxfam, along with CARE Bangladesh and the Campaign for Sustainable Rural Livelihoods have teamed up with Airtel Bangladesh Ltd for a venture that aims to use the latest telecom technologies to make coastal fishermen less vulnerable to sudden storms.
Working together, staff at the rural livelihoods campaign and at the Centre for Global Change will look for signs of rough seas and try to generate warnings 48 hours in advance of incoming serious storms. Airtel then will use newly constructed telecommunication towers to disseminate recorded warnings through digital telecom devices supplied to each fishing boat.
If a boat is caught in rough seas and capsizes, Airtel will be able to track its position and forward the information to the Bangladesh navy and coast guard. The new system is due to begin operating at the start of the rainy season, which typically begins in mid-June.
Accurate storm warnings are essential to help fishermen maximize profits while remaining safe, experts say. Many fishermen take high-interest loans from money-lenders to purchase fuel and provisions for two-week trips. If a Signal III warning is issued by the government’s Disaster Management Bureau, they are required to return to shore.
TOUGH CHOICES
Curtailing a trip can lead to a loss of income and drive fishermen into debt, but ignoring a signal can endanger their lives. More advance warning of coming storms could help them avoid such binds.
Ahmed, who directs the Centre for Global Change, cites the loss of life from super-cyclone Sidr, which struck the Bay of Bengal and coastal regions of Bangladesh in November, 2007, as an example how the tensions between protecting incomes and protecting lives can be difficult to resolve.
Before Sidr hit, taking more than 3,000 lives in coastal Bangladesh, many fishermen had repeatedly abandoned fishing trips, accepting financial losses, in response to bad weather during the monsoon season. By the time that the warning for Sidr came, many cash-strapped fishermen “remained in the sea with a hope that the warning would be proven false,” Ahmed said. For some, taking such a chance was a fatal mistake, he said.
Former fisherman Barek Dafader, of South Tetulbaria, fell into poverty after he lost two of his three fishing boats to a 2005 storm. The unreliability of storm forecasting played a role in his decision to stay at sea after a warning had been issued.
“The signals were found (to be) wrong many times. That’s why I didn’t return with my two trawlers even after the signal was given” during the 2005 storm, he said.
Dafader had to sell his remaining boat in order to repay his debts and support the seven members of his family. He is currently unemployed.
“I was working on other trawlers, but now my children don’t allow me to go to the sea since they don’t want to lose me,” he said.
Oxfam’s Mukta explained that the initiative with Airtel aims to increase the frequency of updates on storms, so that fishermen can make better-informed decisions about whether to start their return journey.
“This may help them save their lives and livelihoods,” Mukta noted.
Syful Islam is a journalist with the Financial Express newspaper in Bangladesh. He can be reached at youths1990@yahoo.com
Source: alertnet // Syful Islam
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AlertNet): Mamtaz Begum still remembers the day 12 years ago when her husband Ansar set off from his village of South Tetulbaria, in Bangladesh’s Barguna district, for a seven-day fishing trip.
“It was a sunny day and there was no sign of storm. So my husband along with his colleagues began the trip to the sea,” she said.
But a sudden storm arose in the Bay of Bengal and the trawler carrying 24-year-old Ansar and other fishermen sank. All the men drowned, leaving Begum a widow in her early 20s, with children to care for and a precarious future.
“My husband’s disappearance left us in the sea,” she said. “We are now leading a very poor life.”
Serious storms off the coast of Bangladesh are increasing in frequency, endangering the lives and livelihoods of Bangladeshi fishermen. According to Ahsan Uddin Ahmed, executive director of the Dhaka-based Centre for Global Change (CGC), between 140,000 and 160,000 households of coastal Bangladesh depend on fishing for their livelihood.
Ziaul Hoque Mukta, a policy manager for Oxfam in Bangladesh, said that in each of the past three years the country experienced 10 to 14 storms significant enough to earn a Signal III warning level, which indicates the likelihood of very rough and potentially dangerous seas. Thirty years ago, just four or five such warnings were issued each year, he said.
“The increased number of dangerous signal storms indicates that (an) unstable situation has risen in the sea,” Mukta said. An Oxfam study suggests this is likely due to climate change, he said.
To address the growing problem, the Centre for Global Change and Oxfam, along with CARE Bangladesh and the Campaign for Sustainable Rural Livelihoods have teamed up with Airtel Bangladesh Ltd for a venture that aims to use the latest telecom technologies to make coastal fishermen less vulnerable to sudden storms.
Working together, staff at the rural livelihoods campaign and at the Centre for Global Change will look for signs of rough seas and try to generate warnings 48 hours in advance of incoming serious storms. Airtel then will use newly constructed telecommunication towers to disseminate recorded warnings through digital telecom devices supplied to each fishing boat.
If a boat is caught in rough seas and capsizes, Airtel will be able to track its position and forward the information to the Bangladesh navy and coast guard. The new system is due to begin operating at the start of the rainy season, which typically begins in mid-June.
Accurate storm warnings are essential to help fishermen maximize profits while remaining safe, experts say. Many fishermen take high-interest loans from money-lenders to purchase fuel and provisions for two-week trips. If a Signal III warning is issued by the government’s Disaster Management Bureau, they are required to return to shore.
TOUGH CHOICES
Curtailing a trip can lead to a loss of income and drive fishermen into debt, but ignoring a signal can endanger their lives. More advance warning of coming storms could help them avoid such binds.
Ahmed, who directs the Centre for Global Change, cites the loss of life from super-cyclone Sidr, which struck the Bay of Bengal and coastal regions of Bangladesh in November, 2007, as an example how the tensions between protecting incomes and protecting lives can be difficult to resolve.
Before Sidr hit, taking more than 3,000 lives in coastal Bangladesh, many fishermen had repeatedly abandoned fishing trips, accepting financial losses, in response to bad weather during the monsoon season. By the time that the warning for Sidr came, many cash-strapped fishermen “remained in the sea with a hope that the warning would be proven false,” Ahmed said. For some, taking such a chance was a fatal mistake, he said.
Former fisherman Barek Dafader, of South Tetulbaria, fell into poverty after he lost two of his three fishing boats to a 2005 storm. The unreliability of storm forecasting played a role in his decision to stay at sea after a warning had been issued.
“The signals were found (to be) wrong many times. That’s why I didn’t return with my two trawlers even after the signal was given” during the 2005 storm, he said.
Dafader had to sell his remaining boat in order to repay his debts and support the seven members of his family. He is currently unemployed.
“I was working on other trawlers, but now my children don’t allow me to go to the sea since they don’t want to lose me,” he said.
Oxfam’s Mukta explained that the initiative with Airtel aims to increase the frequency of updates on storms, so that fishermen can make better-informed decisions about whether to start their return journey.
“This may help them save their lives and livelihoods,” Mukta noted.
Syful Islam is a journalist with the Financial Express newspaper in Bangladesh. He can be reached at youths1990@yahoo.com
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Climate shifts spur fish bonanza on Bangladesh coast
07 Feb 2011 15:12
Source: AlertNet // Syful Islam
By Syful Islam
DHAKA (AlertNet) - Fishermen are finding unexpectedly large quantities of Bangladesh's national fish Hilsa in coastal estuaries out of season, a trend scientists believe is caused by the impacts of climate change and pollution on their breeding patterns.
The silvery Hilsa fish, popular for its tasty flesh, normally migrates from the Bay of Bengal into Bangladeshi rivers between June and October, where it breeds.
In winter, fishing communities in the southern coastal district of Barguna often suffer from hunger as the government bans river fishing between November and May to help Hilsa minnows mature. Families struggle to get by, despite receiving financial assistance from the state.
This year is different. Azhar Ali, a trader waiting at Machkhali fishing station for boats to return from the estuaries, explains that Hilsa fish went for 350-400 taka ($5-$6) per kilo in the peak season, but now, unusually for the off season, they are selling for 200-250 taka per kilo because there are so many around.
Naznin Begum, the wife of a Machkhali fisherman, is happy that her husband is getting a good catch at this normally lean time of year, because it gives them the rare assurance of having enough to eat. "Every year in this period, our rice pots remain empty. Children shout for food. But this year we have no such tension (thanks to) God's kindness," she explains.
For the past two weeks, fishing stations in this remote coastal district have been bustling with fishermen and traders. Boats have been returning from the estuaries full of large Hilsa, and traders have been snapping them up for clients in the capital Dhaka and other parts of the country.
Sagir Alam, head of the Patharghata Fish Traders Association, says his members are transporting fish worth 15 million taka (around $211,000) each day. But he admits it's a puzzling situation. "We can't imagine such large Hilsa fish during the winter. But now we are getting fish of 1 to 1.5 kg each. We are little bit mystified."
WARMING SEAS
Scientists say the recent surge in Hilsa fish out of season is one sign of the growing effects of climate change on ocean ecology.
Dr Sultan Mahmud of the fisheries faculty at Patuakhali Science and Technology University explains that rising sea temperatures are disrupting breeding patterns, and are contributing to a shift in the mating and migration of the Hilsa fish.
The Bay of Bengal has four fishing grounds, but recently Hilsa fish have been found outside these zones. Mahmud and his university colleagues plan to launch intensive research on the issue soon.
Climatic variability is affecting the fish's growth and reproductive cycle, according to Mahmud. The large fish being found in estuaries out of season may be coming in from the deep sea for late breeding.
"This is a sign of climatic pressure on the bay. The effect will also put pressure on other sea mammals," he notes, adding that the whole food chain is being impacted.
The Hilsa fish isn't the only species being affected by environmental changes linked to global warming, including more intense monsoon rains and tropical cyclones.
Last October, Olive Ridley turtles on Saint Martin's island laid eggs three months earlier than usual. And, in December, fishermen in the Bay of Bengal caught unusually large volumes of Red Snapper fish over a period of several days.
RIVER ECOSYSTEMS UNDER STRESS
Extreme weather and pollution are compounding the shifts out at sea. The Hilsa fish is losing considerable stretches of its river breeding grounds, as many rivers have changed course and narrowed due to siltation caused by droughts and reduced water flow upstream.
River ecosystems are also being damaged by the dumping and run-off of untreated sewage, fertilisers, pesticides and industrial chemicals.
Fishermen used to catch Hilsa in many Bangladeshi rivers, including the Padma, Jamuna and Meghna. But as many dry up into thin canals during the summer months, the fish can no longer head hundreds of kilometres upstream, which they naturally do to breed.
The building of dams and barrages upstream is also preventing their normal migration, cutting their numbers upstream. The loss of their spawning grounds seems to be driving the fish to breed too early or too late, and in rivers much closer to the sea.
Abdur Rashid, 65, a fisherman in Bishkhali in Borguna district, says he hasn't seen this many Hilsa fish during the winter in the 50 years he has been working.
"Usually, we can't fish in this period as the government doesn't allow us to go to the river. We starve with family members, and struggle to survive," he explains. "This year the scenario is totally different. We are getting a huge volume of Hilsa fish and can earn money to buy food."
Fishermen Md Aslam, Alamgir Sarder and Sagir Hosen agree, saying they would expect to find only young fish at this time of year. For them, what's happening now is a "miracle".
But some worry this new phenomenon could bring trouble. "We may not get adequate Hilsa fish next season," frets fisherman Ahmad Hosen. "I am afraid there may be danger in the offing."
Patuakhali university expert Mahmud echoes his concern. "Getting Hilsa fish in winter is not only astonishing but also alarming," he says. "Climate change could be the knock-out punch for many species which are already under stress from habitat loss."
Syful Islam is a journalist with the Financial Express newspaper in Bangladesh. He can be reached at youths1990@yahoo.com.
Source: AlertNet // Syful Islam
By Syful Islam
DHAKA (AlertNet) - Fishermen are finding unexpectedly large quantities of Bangladesh's national fish Hilsa in coastal estuaries out of season, a trend scientists believe is caused by the impacts of climate change and pollution on their breeding patterns.
The silvery Hilsa fish, popular for its tasty flesh, normally migrates from the Bay of Bengal into Bangladeshi rivers between June and October, where it breeds.
In winter, fishing communities in the southern coastal district of Barguna often suffer from hunger as the government bans river fishing between November and May to help Hilsa minnows mature. Families struggle to get by, despite receiving financial assistance from the state.
This year is different. Azhar Ali, a trader waiting at Machkhali fishing station for boats to return from the estuaries, explains that Hilsa fish went for 350-400 taka ($5-$6) per kilo in the peak season, but now, unusually for the off season, they are selling for 200-250 taka per kilo because there are so many around.
Naznin Begum, the wife of a Machkhali fisherman, is happy that her husband is getting a good catch at this normally lean time of year, because it gives them the rare assurance of having enough to eat. "Every year in this period, our rice pots remain empty. Children shout for food. But this year we have no such tension (thanks to) God's kindness," she explains.
For the past two weeks, fishing stations in this remote coastal district have been bustling with fishermen and traders. Boats have been returning from the estuaries full of large Hilsa, and traders have been snapping them up for clients in the capital Dhaka and other parts of the country.
Sagir Alam, head of the Patharghata Fish Traders Association, says his members are transporting fish worth 15 million taka (around $211,000) each day. But he admits it's a puzzling situation. "We can't imagine such large Hilsa fish during the winter. But now we are getting fish of 1 to 1.5 kg each. We are little bit mystified."
WARMING SEAS
Scientists say the recent surge in Hilsa fish out of season is one sign of the growing effects of climate change on ocean ecology.
Dr Sultan Mahmud of the fisheries faculty at Patuakhali Science and Technology University explains that rising sea temperatures are disrupting breeding patterns, and are contributing to a shift in the mating and migration of the Hilsa fish.
The Bay of Bengal has four fishing grounds, but recently Hilsa fish have been found outside these zones. Mahmud and his university colleagues plan to launch intensive research on the issue soon.
Climatic variability is affecting the fish's growth and reproductive cycle, according to Mahmud. The large fish being found in estuaries out of season may be coming in from the deep sea for late breeding.
"This is a sign of climatic pressure on the bay. The effect will also put pressure on other sea mammals," he notes, adding that the whole food chain is being impacted.
The Hilsa fish isn't the only species being affected by environmental changes linked to global warming, including more intense monsoon rains and tropical cyclones.
Last October, Olive Ridley turtles on Saint Martin's island laid eggs three months earlier than usual. And, in December, fishermen in the Bay of Bengal caught unusually large volumes of Red Snapper fish over a period of several days.
RIVER ECOSYSTEMS UNDER STRESS
Extreme weather and pollution are compounding the shifts out at sea. The Hilsa fish is losing considerable stretches of its river breeding grounds, as many rivers have changed course and narrowed due to siltation caused by droughts and reduced water flow upstream.
River ecosystems are also being damaged by the dumping and run-off of untreated sewage, fertilisers, pesticides and industrial chemicals.
Fishermen used to catch Hilsa in many Bangladeshi rivers, including the Padma, Jamuna and Meghna. But as many dry up into thin canals during the summer months, the fish can no longer head hundreds of kilometres upstream, which they naturally do to breed.
The building of dams and barrages upstream is also preventing their normal migration, cutting their numbers upstream. The loss of their spawning grounds seems to be driving the fish to breed too early or too late, and in rivers much closer to the sea.
Abdur Rashid, 65, a fisherman in Bishkhali in Borguna district, says he hasn't seen this many Hilsa fish during the winter in the 50 years he has been working.
"Usually, we can't fish in this period as the government doesn't allow us to go to the river. We starve with family members, and struggle to survive," he explains. "This year the scenario is totally different. We are getting a huge volume of Hilsa fish and can earn money to buy food."
Fishermen Md Aslam, Alamgir Sarder and Sagir Hosen agree, saying they would expect to find only young fish at this time of year. For them, what's happening now is a "miracle".
But some worry this new phenomenon could bring trouble. "We may not get adequate Hilsa fish next season," frets fisherman Ahmad Hosen. "I am afraid there may be danger in the offing."
Patuakhali university expert Mahmud echoes his concern. "Getting Hilsa fish in winter is not only astonishing but also alarming," he says. "Climate change could be the knock-out punch for many species which are already under stress from habitat loss."
Syful Islam is a journalist with the Financial Express newspaper in Bangladesh. He can be reached at youths1990@yahoo.com.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Drought-tolerant rice variety to help farmers in northern Bangladesh
11 Jan 2011
By Syful Islam
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AlertNet) – Bangladesh is about to get its first drought-tolerant rice variety, which should play a key role in helping drought-affected farmers in northern Bangladesh deal with increasingly variable summer weather, scientists say.
The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), with the help of two Bangladeshi organizations, has successfully tested the rice, which can survive up to 27 days without water, the scientists say.
“The existing rice varieties in Bangladesh wither and die after 10 to 12 days if water is not available in the land. But this variety has been tested successfully in such extreme situations,” M.G. Neogi, head of agriculture at the Rangpur-Dinajpur Rural Service (RDRS), told AlertNet.
In 2010, Bangladesh witnessed the lowest rainfall in 15 years, a change experts characterized as an impact of global climate change.
The Bangladesh Meteorological Department recorded 47,000 mm of rainfall in June, July, August and September 2010, compared to 56,000 mm in the same period of the last year, 60,000 mm in 2008 and 66,000 mm in 2007. The measurements are countrywide averages.
Drought affected about 100,000 hectares (250,000 acres) of land in Bangladesh’s Barindra and other northern districts during the July to September period, according to M.A. Bari, country manager for the Stress-Tolerance Rice for Poor Farmers in Africa and South Asia (STRASA) project in Bangladesh.
SUCCESS IN AREAS TOO DRY FOR RICE
Neogi said tests of the new rice variety were even successful in Panchagar district, where rice normally can’t be grown as a result of lack of rainfall.
The rice is suitable to grow in the July to September cropping period, though can’t be grown in winter as it is intolerant of cold, he said.
He urged that the rice be widely introduced immediately to help farmers deal with worsening climate-related drought, particularly in already dry areas.
The technical committee of the National Seed Board is still scrutinizing the variety following an application by the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute for its release.
The variety was first developed in 2008 by IRRI in the Philippines, with the financial support of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Under the Stress-Tolerant Rice for Poor Farmers in Africa and South Asia project, the rice was tested in India, Cambodia and Nepal.
In Bangladesh, the rice has produced 3.5 tonnes of rice per hectare in test plots. Existing rice varieties can produce up to 4.5 tonnes per hectare but only if there is no drought, experts said.
India has already released the rice variety under the name ‘Shahabagi’ in 2009, and it is now grown on 235,000 hectares of Indian farmland.
Before sending the new variety to farmers in Bangladesh, the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute carried out its own tests over the 2008 to 2010 period. The rice was also tested by 36 farmers in eight districts of Rangpur division, who said they were happy with the results.
FARMER TESTS
Farmer Mosharraf Hosen of Tupamari village in Nilphamari district cultivated the drought-tolerant variety on two acres of land during the last July to September growing season. He harvested 960 kilograms of rice from the land, compared to 800 kilograms from his regular rice variety, and said the new variety required less fertilizer, cutting his costs.
“Usually I had to use 80 kilograms of fertilizer. … But I needed only 44 kilograms of fertilizer to cultivate the drought-tolerant rice in the same volume of land,” said Hosen, who is a father of four children.
Agricultural scientists bought most of his successful crop of the new rice as seed, he said.
“But I kept some seeds to cultivate in the next dry season since it does not need irrigation and I can save money,” he said.
Mahafuz, a farmer in Kathalbari village in Kurigram district, said he usually had to irrigate his rice paddies during dry periods with low rainfall. But there was no need to irrigate the land for cultivating drought-tolerant rice, he said.
His wife Rabeka Sultana. also cultivated the rice variety on her one acre of land and harvested nearly 1,600 kilograms of rice.
Hamid Mia, a scientist with IRRI in Bangladesh, said the new rice is similar in many ways to currently used varieties, and can be cultivated in any part of the country apart from land affected by excessive salinity.
“During the last few years we noticed adverse affects from drought on rice yields in northern districts. But the drought-tolerant variety tested this year in the area remained unaffected during the season,” he said.
“This tiny country has lot of diversity, in kinds of land and weather. So we need to introduce various kinds of rice varieties (capable of dealing) with different conditions,” he said.
Syful Islam is a freelance journalist in Bangladesh. He can be reached at youths1990@yahoo.com.
http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/drought-tolerant-rice-variety-to-help-farmers-in-northern-bangladesh/
By Syful Islam
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AlertNet) – Bangladesh is about to get its first drought-tolerant rice variety, which should play a key role in helping drought-affected farmers in northern Bangladesh deal with increasingly variable summer weather, scientists say.
The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), with the help of two Bangladeshi organizations, has successfully tested the rice, which can survive up to 27 days without water, the scientists say.
“The existing rice varieties in Bangladesh wither and die after 10 to 12 days if water is not available in the land. But this variety has been tested successfully in such extreme situations,” M.G. Neogi, head of agriculture at the Rangpur-Dinajpur Rural Service (RDRS), told AlertNet.
In 2010, Bangladesh witnessed the lowest rainfall in 15 years, a change experts characterized as an impact of global climate change.
The Bangladesh Meteorological Department recorded 47,000 mm of rainfall in June, July, August and September 2010, compared to 56,000 mm in the same period of the last year, 60,000 mm in 2008 and 66,000 mm in 2007. The measurements are countrywide averages.
Drought affected about 100,000 hectares (250,000 acres) of land in Bangladesh’s Barindra and other northern districts during the July to September period, according to M.A. Bari, country manager for the Stress-Tolerance Rice for Poor Farmers in Africa and South Asia (STRASA) project in Bangladesh.
SUCCESS IN AREAS TOO DRY FOR RICE
Neogi said tests of the new rice variety were even successful in Panchagar district, where rice normally can’t be grown as a result of lack of rainfall.
The rice is suitable to grow in the July to September cropping period, though can’t be grown in winter as it is intolerant of cold, he said.
He urged that the rice be widely introduced immediately to help farmers deal with worsening climate-related drought, particularly in already dry areas.
The technical committee of the National Seed Board is still scrutinizing the variety following an application by the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute for its release.
The variety was first developed in 2008 by IRRI in the Philippines, with the financial support of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Under the Stress-Tolerant Rice for Poor Farmers in Africa and South Asia project, the rice was tested in India, Cambodia and Nepal.
In Bangladesh, the rice has produced 3.5 tonnes of rice per hectare in test plots. Existing rice varieties can produce up to 4.5 tonnes per hectare but only if there is no drought, experts said.
India has already released the rice variety under the name ‘Shahabagi’ in 2009, and it is now grown on 235,000 hectares of Indian farmland.
Before sending the new variety to farmers in Bangladesh, the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute carried out its own tests over the 2008 to 2010 period. The rice was also tested by 36 farmers in eight districts of Rangpur division, who said they were happy with the results.
FARMER TESTS
Farmer Mosharraf Hosen of Tupamari village in Nilphamari district cultivated the drought-tolerant variety on two acres of land during the last July to September growing season. He harvested 960 kilograms of rice from the land, compared to 800 kilograms from his regular rice variety, and said the new variety required less fertilizer, cutting his costs.
“Usually I had to use 80 kilograms of fertilizer. … But I needed only 44 kilograms of fertilizer to cultivate the drought-tolerant rice in the same volume of land,” said Hosen, who is a father of four children.
Agricultural scientists bought most of his successful crop of the new rice as seed, he said.
“But I kept some seeds to cultivate in the next dry season since it does not need irrigation and I can save money,” he said.
Mahafuz, a farmer in Kathalbari village in Kurigram district, said he usually had to irrigate his rice paddies during dry periods with low rainfall. But there was no need to irrigate the land for cultivating drought-tolerant rice, he said.
His wife Rabeka Sultana. also cultivated the rice variety on her one acre of land and harvested nearly 1,600 kilograms of rice.
Hamid Mia, a scientist with IRRI in Bangladesh, said the new rice is similar in many ways to currently used varieties, and can be cultivated in any part of the country apart from land affected by excessive salinity.
“During the last few years we noticed adverse affects from drought on rice yields in northern districts. But the drought-tolerant variety tested this year in the area remained unaffected during the season,” he said.
“This tiny country has lot of diversity, in kinds of land and weather. So we need to introduce various kinds of rice varieties (capable of dealing) with different conditions,” he said.
Syful Islam is a freelance journalist in Bangladesh. He can be reached at youths1990@yahoo.com.
http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/drought-tolerant-rice-variety-to-help-farmers-in-northern-bangladesh/
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Bangladesh island protection program struggles for funding
24 Nov 2010 16:09:00 GMT
Written by: AlertNet correspondent
By Syful Islam
DHAKA (AlertNet) - Residents in Sandwip, an island sub-district in southeast Bangladesh, have appealed to the government to fund a multi-million-dollar, three-kilometre-long stretch of concrete and earth wall to curb worsening erosion, which threatens the earthen embankments that protect the island of 400,000 people.
But Bangladesh's government, faced with a surge of similar requests from other threatened regions of the country and limited funds, will struggle to carry out the project, which has been proposed since the 1960s, officials say.
"Fund constraints are a big barrier to development works in Bangladesh," said Mihir Kanti Mazumder, secretary of the Ministry of Environment and Forests.
The proposed "dam," which would connect the island to Urirchar, another island near the Noakhali district mainland, is designed to stem worsening sea erosion, which has dramatically reduced the size of the island, to an estimated 80 square miles (200 square kilometres) today.
High tides have gradually washed away part of the island's eastern protective embankments, leaving a growing number of people homeless, said Jamal Uddin Chowdhury, president of Sandwip-Noakhali Dam Implementation Council, a local organization pushing for the dam.
FAMILIES DISPLACED
"Sea erosion outside the embankment is intensifying," he said. Altogether, a quarter of the island's people are now living on its remaining elevated embankments after losing their land and homes, he said.
Over the last 30 years, nearly 200,000 other islanders displaced by erosion have fled to the Chittagong mainland and elsewhere in the country, he said.
Sandwip residents, most of them fishermen and farmers, fear things may be about to get worse after Bangladesh's government allocated $5.3 million to build a one-kilometer-long dam connecting Urirchar island with Noakhali district on the mainland. The project's aim is to reclaim nearly 600 square kilometers (230 square miles) of low-lying land.
Money for the project is to come from the country's Climate Change Trust Fund, which was created and funded by the government.
But the project may put Sandwip's residents at greater risk if the wall changes sea currents, intensifying pressure on their own embankments, Chowhury said.
Council members said the cost of bridging the full four-kilometer-long gap, which separates Sandwip from Urirchar and Urirchar from the mainland, would be about $21 million.
"Climate scientists say low-lying areas like islands and coastal belts are under threat of vanishing due to sea level rise. There is no long-term solution except to try to save the island through increasing its size by building a dam," Chowdhury said.
REALLY NECESSARY?
However, Ainun Nishat, a climate change expert and vice chancellar at BRAC University, a Bangladesh institution focused on development issues, said islands like Sandwip are unlikely to disappear entirely as most are protected by substantial earth embankments.
Sandwip has a more than 12-foot (3.5 metre) embankment encircling it, he said, which suggests a predicted one-meter (3 foot) sea level rise by 2100 would not lead to the destruction of the island.
But he emphasised the need to properly maintain the embankments to ensure their effectiveness, particularly in standing up to the storm surges that are hitting Bangladesh's coastal belt with increased frequency and intensity.
Sandwip residents have been asking for construction of protective dams since the 1960s without result, despite a series of government promises to help.
Bangabandhu Shekh Mujibur Rahman, considered Bangladesh's "father of the nation", in 1970 pledged help building the dam during an election campaign. The region received another pledge of help in 1979 from President Aiaur Rahman, one from Hussain Mohammed Ershad, who came to election in a coup in 1986, and another from present Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in 2008.
None of the promises were met, residents say.
Part of the problem has been a lack of funds. In 1984, Holland's ambassador in Bangladesh proposed that two-thirds of the cost of the dam could be collected from the Netherlands and other donor countries, and the rest covered by Bangladesh.
In 1986, five countries including Holland and Canada agreed to provide financial and technical assistance to build the dam. But the project was put off by Bangladesh's government in favour of channelling funding for construction of a bridge over the Jamuna River.
Members of the Sandwip Dam Implementation Council said they were assured in October by Hasan Mahmud, the state minister for environment, and Ramesh Shen, the country's water resources minister, that the project remains under consideration, said ABM Wahidur Rahman.
But because of its high cost, the project cannot be funded by the government's Climate Change Trust Fund, which has a cap of $3.57 million for projects, said Mazumder, of the Ministry of Environment and Forests.
The Urirchar-Noakhali dam was funded by the Trust Fund only after the project was broken into two phases, bringing it under the $3.57 million cap.
The lack of adequate funding is a key reason many climate adaptation projects remain unimplemented, Mazumder said.
Syful Islam is a freelance journalist in Bangladesh. He can be reached at youths1990@yahoo.com.
http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/bangladesh-island-protection-program-struggles-for-funding-/
Written by: AlertNet correspondent
By Syful Islam
DHAKA (AlertNet) - Residents in Sandwip, an island sub-district in southeast Bangladesh, have appealed to the government to fund a multi-million-dollar, three-kilometre-long stretch of concrete and earth wall to curb worsening erosion, which threatens the earthen embankments that protect the island of 400,000 people.
But Bangladesh's government, faced with a surge of similar requests from other threatened regions of the country and limited funds, will struggle to carry out the project, which has been proposed since the 1960s, officials say.
"Fund constraints are a big barrier to development works in Bangladesh," said Mihir Kanti Mazumder, secretary of the Ministry of Environment and Forests.
The proposed "dam," which would connect the island to Urirchar, another island near the Noakhali district mainland, is designed to stem worsening sea erosion, which has dramatically reduced the size of the island, to an estimated 80 square miles (200 square kilometres) today.
High tides have gradually washed away part of the island's eastern protective embankments, leaving a growing number of people homeless, said Jamal Uddin Chowdhury, president of Sandwip-Noakhali Dam Implementation Council, a local organization pushing for the dam.
FAMILIES DISPLACED
"Sea erosion outside the embankment is intensifying," he said. Altogether, a quarter of the island's people are now living on its remaining elevated embankments after losing their land and homes, he said.
Over the last 30 years, nearly 200,000 other islanders displaced by erosion have fled to the Chittagong mainland and elsewhere in the country, he said.
Sandwip residents, most of them fishermen and farmers, fear things may be about to get worse after Bangladesh's government allocated $5.3 million to build a one-kilometer-long dam connecting Urirchar island with Noakhali district on the mainland. The project's aim is to reclaim nearly 600 square kilometers (230 square miles) of low-lying land.
Money for the project is to come from the country's Climate Change Trust Fund, which was created and funded by the government.
But the project may put Sandwip's residents at greater risk if the wall changes sea currents, intensifying pressure on their own embankments, Chowhury said.
Council members said the cost of bridging the full four-kilometer-long gap, which separates Sandwip from Urirchar and Urirchar from the mainland, would be about $21 million.
"Climate scientists say low-lying areas like islands and coastal belts are under threat of vanishing due to sea level rise. There is no long-term solution except to try to save the island through increasing its size by building a dam," Chowdhury said.
REALLY NECESSARY?
However, Ainun Nishat, a climate change expert and vice chancellar at BRAC University, a Bangladesh institution focused on development issues, said islands like Sandwip are unlikely to disappear entirely as most are protected by substantial earth embankments.
Sandwip has a more than 12-foot (3.5 metre) embankment encircling it, he said, which suggests a predicted one-meter (3 foot) sea level rise by 2100 would not lead to the destruction of the island.
But he emphasised the need to properly maintain the embankments to ensure their effectiveness, particularly in standing up to the storm surges that are hitting Bangladesh's coastal belt with increased frequency and intensity.
Sandwip residents have been asking for construction of protective dams since the 1960s without result, despite a series of government promises to help.
Bangabandhu Shekh Mujibur Rahman, considered Bangladesh's "father of the nation", in 1970 pledged help building the dam during an election campaign. The region received another pledge of help in 1979 from President Aiaur Rahman, one from Hussain Mohammed Ershad, who came to election in a coup in 1986, and another from present Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in 2008.
None of the promises were met, residents say.
Part of the problem has been a lack of funds. In 1984, Holland's ambassador in Bangladesh proposed that two-thirds of the cost of the dam could be collected from the Netherlands and other donor countries, and the rest covered by Bangladesh.
In 1986, five countries including Holland and Canada agreed to provide financial and technical assistance to build the dam. But the project was put off by Bangladesh's government in favour of channelling funding for construction of a bridge over the Jamuna River.
Members of the Sandwip Dam Implementation Council said they were assured in October by Hasan Mahmud, the state minister for environment, and Ramesh Shen, the country's water resources minister, that the project remains under consideration, said ABM Wahidur Rahman.
But because of its high cost, the project cannot be funded by the government's Climate Change Trust Fund, which has a cap of $3.57 million for projects, said Mazumder, of the Ministry of Environment and Forests.
The Urirchar-Noakhali dam was funded by the Trust Fund only after the project was broken into two phases, bringing it under the $3.57 million cap.
The lack of adequate funding is a key reason many climate adaptation projects remain unimplemented, Mazumder said.
Syful Islam is a freelance journalist in Bangladesh. He can be reached at youths1990@yahoo.com.
http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/bangladesh-island-protection-program-struggles-for-funding-/
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Bangladesh's Aila victims 'have no Eid and no joy'
15 Sep 2010 15:21:00 GMT
Written by: AlertNet correspondent
By Syful Islam
SATKHIRA DISTRICT, Bangladesh (AlertNet) - Still awaiting the rebuilding of broken embankments 16 months after cyclone Aila hit the region, nearly 50,000 people in Bangladesh's Khulna and Satkhira districts are living under the open sky on elevated roads, eating at best once or twice a day.
In this circumstance, Islam's biggest festival, Eid-ul-Fitr, comes to them with little joy or happiness.
The devastating cyclone hit three sub-districts of Bangladesh's southwest coastal region in May 2009, killing at least 300 people and destroying 4,000 kilometres of roads and embankments. More than 87,000 people lost their houses, possessions and traditional livelihoods.
Today, with seawater still flooding many homes and fields, the ill-fated Aila victims remain living on the damaged embankments, surviving the rainy season in huts made of plastic sheets and bamboo. Thousands have little but rainwater or limited supplies of freshwater provided by NGOs to drink.
With the fields under salt water, no shrimp farming or other activities can be restarted, and people have no way to earn a livelihood. Instead they depend on relief aid and try to fish in the nearby rivers.
People say they simply want the broken embankments repaired, perhaps through food for work programs, so they can get on with their lives.
"Once Gabura was tourist spot, as it stands just opposite the Sundarbans, the world's largest mangrove forest. But people here now have no work and are living poorly," said Mizanur Rahman, 45, who lives in a 10-foot-square (1 square metre) hut on an embankment in Gabura Union under the Satkhira district.
Nosiron Begum, 80, is living on the same embankment with her daughter Jarina, 35, a widow who earns her livelihood begging in the nearest villages.
"My house and lands were washed away during cyclone Aila, turning me into a beggar. I never saw such a devastating storm earlier," said the old woman.
Koitori Bibi, 70, the mother of a son and daughter, said her family survives on fish from the nearby river.
"My husband is an old man. He can't work. So we eat once a day," she said.
Zahura Begum, 50, the mother of two grown sons, said, "My sons are married and can't feed their own family members as there is no work. So they can't look after me and my ailing husband."
Asked how they will observe Eid, Begum said, "We are passing the days half starving. We have no money to buy clothes or to buy sugar and vermicelli. We have no Eid and no joy."
Syful Islam is a senior reporter with The New Nation newspaper in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
http://www.alertnet.org/db/an_art/60167/2010/08/15-152112-1.htm
Written by: AlertNet correspondent
By Syful Islam
SATKHIRA DISTRICT, Bangladesh (AlertNet) - Still awaiting the rebuilding of broken embankments 16 months after cyclone Aila hit the region, nearly 50,000 people in Bangladesh's Khulna and Satkhira districts are living under the open sky on elevated roads, eating at best once or twice a day.
In this circumstance, Islam's biggest festival, Eid-ul-Fitr, comes to them with little joy or happiness.
The devastating cyclone hit three sub-districts of Bangladesh's southwest coastal region in May 2009, killing at least 300 people and destroying 4,000 kilometres of roads and embankments. More than 87,000 people lost their houses, possessions and traditional livelihoods.
Today, with seawater still flooding many homes and fields, the ill-fated Aila victims remain living on the damaged embankments, surviving the rainy season in huts made of plastic sheets and bamboo. Thousands have little but rainwater or limited supplies of freshwater provided by NGOs to drink.
With the fields under salt water, no shrimp farming or other activities can be restarted, and people have no way to earn a livelihood. Instead they depend on relief aid and try to fish in the nearby rivers.
People say they simply want the broken embankments repaired, perhaps through food for work programs, so they can get on with their lives.
"Once Gabura was tourist spot, as it stands just opposite the Sundarbans, the world's largest mangrove forest. But people here now have no work and are living poorly," said Mizanur Rahman, 45, who lives in a 10-foot-square (1 square metre) hut on an embankment in Gabura Union under the Satkhira district.
Nosiron Begum, 80, is living on the same embankment with her daughter Jarina, 35, a widow who earns her livelihood begging in the nearest villages.
"My house and lands were washed away during cyclone Aila, turning me into a beggar. I never saw such a devastating storm earlier," said the old woman.
Koitori Bibi, 70, the mother of a son and daughter, said her family survives on fish from the nearby river.
"My husband is an old man. He can't work. So we eat once a day," she said.
Zahura Begum, 50, the mother of two grown sons, said, "My sons are married and can't feed their own family members as there is no work. So they can't look after me and my ailing husband."
Asked how they will observe Eid, Begum said, "We are passing the days half starving. We have no money to buy clothes or to buy sugar and vermicelli. We have no Eid and no joy."
Syful Islam is a senior reporter with The New Nation newspaper in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
http://www.alertnet.org/db/an_art/60167/2010/08/15-152112-1.htm
Bangladesh coastal residents at risk from lack of storm shelters
06 Sep 2010 21:22:00 GMT
Written by: AlertNet correspondent
By Syful Islam
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AlertNet) - Elevated concrete storm shelters, built along Bangladesh's coast, have over the decades dramatically reduced the once catastrophic number of people killed by cyclones in the low-lying country.
But population growth, poor maintenance of some of the existing shelters and a lack of funding means the country today has inadequate shelters to protect all 7.8 million Bangladeshis most at risk during cyclones, officials say.
With the monsoon season now underway, people living in disaster-prone coastal districts are worried that if cyclones or other large storm surges hit this year, they could carry huge costs in terms of lives and livelihoods.
"People are at high risk, especially those who live close to the sea. Until and unless adequate numbers of shelter centres are built, they will remain at risk," said Mokhlesur Rahman, the nation's disaster management secretary.
According to statistics from the Ministry of Disaster Management, the country's 16 coastal districts have 2,853 storm shelter centres, 262 of which are now unusable. To adequately protect the coastal population, the country needs another 2,500 shelters, Rahman said.
"It is impossible to give them shelter with the small number of (existing) shelter centres. But we can't build adequate centres due to lack of funding," he said.
New shelters, capable of protecting hundreds of residents each, cost at least $285,000 per shelter, he said, and the government is turning to donor countries for assistance. So far, the country has raised enough funds to begin construction of 482 additional shelters, he said.
Storm shelter centres - large, elevated concrete structures built near the coast and often used day to day as schools or other public spaces - are an essential part of Bangladesh's disaster preparedness, along with early warning systems.
SHELTERS THE ONLY OPTION
In a region where many people, particularly the poorest, live in flimsy one-story structures, the shelters offer the only real chance of surviving serious cyclones, tsunamis and other disasters.
Bangladesh's worst-ever cyclone, in 1991, killed 138,000 people and left as many as 10 million homeless. But the death toll was far less than from a smaller storm in 1970 that killed 300,000 people before the storm shelter network was built.
Since that time, the shelters have dramatically reduced Bangladesh's loss of life from cyclones. Cyclone Sidr in 2007 officially killed 3,447 people, though some aid agencies believe the number may have reached 5,000 to 10,000. Cyclone Aila, which hit southern Bangladesh in 2009, killed 300 people, destroyed the homes of about 87,000 people and wiped out 4,000 kilometres of roads and embankments, many of which are still being rebuilt.
Following the 1991 cyclone, a survey headed Jamilur Reza Chowdhury, a professor at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, recommended construction of 4,000 additional storm shelter centres. After Cyclone Sidr hit in 2007, that recommendation was reviewed by another committee headed by the then-secretary of the works ministry. That committee suggested the government construct at least 2,000 more shelter centres. But it has failed to do so, citing a lack of funds.
Residents of the coastal areas most in need of shelters say that failure is putting large numbers of lives at risk.
TOO FAR AWAY?
Ripon Hosen, a boatman from Chalkbara village in Satkhira district - one of the areas hardest hit by Cyclone Aila - said that the nearest shelter centre for his family is two kilometres from their house.
"On the day Aila struck, we ran to the elevated embankments, seeing that the water level was rising unusually. It was not possible for us to reach the shelter centre" in time, he said.
Others, who failed to reach the storm centres or the elevated embankments, "were washed away by the high tide," he said.
The area, with a population of 42,000, currently has six shelter centres capable of holding about 3,000 people, Hosen said.
"We need at least 30 more shelter centres to accommodate all," agreed G.M. Kamrul Islam, a small businessman in Khalishabunia village, in the same area. "Had Aila hit at night instead of in daylight, at least three-quarters of the people here might have been killed."
On that day, "I never saw such water rising in my life. Though the meteorology office reported a danger signal of 12 (high on the scale), we did not take it seriously because we are familiar with storms from childhood. After Aila, now we become scared even if the danger signal is at 3 or 4," he said.
Khulna and Satkhira districts, considered some of the country's most storm-vulnerable areas, have only 77 and 65 working shelter centres respectively. Bhola, a large southern island, has 417 by comparison, government figures show.
Hasan Mehedi, chief executive of Humanitywatch, a non-profit rights group in Khulna, and someone who works with Aila victims, said the number of storm shelter centres in the region is very inadequate to meet emergency needs.
"None of the storm shelter centres can accommodate more than 500. Most of the coastal people in Khulna need shelter during disasters. So, the existing shelter centres can save only a very small portion of the total population of the region," he said.
Some of the shelters now in place also are suffering from age and lack of repair.
Rashid Ahmed, a villager in Bashkhali sub-district under the Chittagong district, said the storm shelter centre in the Kadamrasul area has developed several large cracks and become unusable after it was not repaired.
He estimated that of 116 storm shelter centres in the area, 60 were not functioning effectively because of lack of maintenance.
Ahmed said that the lack of shelters threatened around 600,000 people in the sub-district. About 42,000 people there were killed during the devastating 1991 cyclone.
Syful Islam is a senior reporter with The New Nation newspaper in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/bangladesh-coastal-residents-at-risk-from-lack-of-storm-shelters/
Written by: AlertNet correspondent
By Syful Islam
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AlertNet) - Elevated concrete storm shelters, built along Bangladesh's coast, have over the decades dramatically reduced the once catastrophic number of people killed by cyclones in the low-lying country.
But population growth, poor maintenance of some of the existing shelters and a lack of funding means the country today has inadequate shelters to protect all 7.8 million Bangladeshis most at risk during cyclones, officials say.
With the monsoon season now underway, people living in disaster-prone coastal districts are worried that if cyclones or other large storm surges hit this year, they could carry huge costs in terms of lives and livelihoods.
"People are at high risk, especially those who live close to the sea. Until and unless adequate numbers of shelter centres are built, they will remain at risk," said Mokhlesur Rahman, the nation's disaster management secretary.
According to statistics from the Ministry of Disaster Management, the country's 16 coastal districts have 2,853 storm shelter centres, 262 of which are now unusable. To adequately protect the coastal population, the country needs another 2,500 shelters, Rahman said.
"It is impossible to give them shelter with the small number of (existing) shelter centres. But we can't build adequate centres due to lack of funding," he said.
New shelters, capable of protecting hundreds of residents each, cost at least $285,000 per shelter, he said, and the government is turning to donor countries for assistance. So far, the country has raised enough funds to begin construction of 482 additional shelters, he said.
Storm shelter centres - large, elevated concrete structures built near the coast and often used day to day as schools or other public spaces - are an essential part of Bangladesh's disaster preparedness, along with early warning systems.
SHELTERS THE ONLY OPTION
In a region where many people, particularly the poorest, live in flimsy one-story structures, the shelters offer the only real chance of surviving serious cyclones, tsunamis and other disasters.
Bangladesh's worst-ever cyclone, in 1991, killed 138,000 people and left as many as 10 million homeless. But the death toll was far less than from a smaller storm in 1970 that killed 300,000 people before the storm shelter network was built.
Since that time, the shelters have dramatically reduced Bangladesh's loss of life from cyclones. Cyclone Sidr in 2007 officially killed 3,447 people, though some aid agencies believe the number may have reached 5,000 to 10,000. Cyclone Aila, which hit southern Bangladesh in 2009, killed 300 people, destroyed the homes of about 87,000 people and wiped out 4,000 kilometres of roads and embankments, many of which are still being rebuilt.
Following the 1991 cyclone, a survey headed Jamilur Reza Chowdhury, a professor at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, recommended construction of 4,000 additional storm shelter centres. After Cyclone Sidr hit in 2007, that recommendation was reviewed by another committee headed by the then-secretary of the works ministry. That committee suggested the government construct at least 2,000 more shelter centres. But it has failed to do so, citing a lack of funds.
Residents of the coastal areas most in need of shelters say that failure is putting large numbers of lives at risk.
TOO FAR AWAY?
Ripon Hosen, a boatman from Chalkbara village in Satkhira district - one of the areas hardest hit by Cyclone Aila - said that the nearest shelter centre for his family is two kilometres from their house.
"On the day Aila struck, we ran to the elevated embankments, seeing that the water level was rising unusually. It was not possible for us to reach the shelter centre" in time, he said.
Others, who failed to reach the storm centres or the elevated embankments, "were washed away by the high tide," he said.
The area, with a population of 42,000, currently has six shelter centres capable of holding about 3,000 people, Hosen said.
"We need at least 30 more shelter centres to accommodate all," agreed G.M. Kamrul Islam, a small businessman in Khalishabunia village, in the same area. "Had Aila hit at night instead of in daylight, at least three-quarters of the people here might have been killed."
On that day, "I never saw such water rising in my life. Though the meteorology office reported a danger signal of 12 (high on the scale), we did not take it seriously because we are familiar with storms from childhood. After Aila, now we become scared even if the danger signal is at 3 or 4," he said.
Khulna and Satkhira districts, considered some of the country's most storm-vulnerable areas, have only 77 and 65 working shelter centres respectively. Bhola, a large southern island, has 417 by comparison, government figures show.
Hasan Mehedi, chief executive of Humanitywatch, a non-profit rights group in Khulna, and someone who works with Aila victims, said the number of storm shelter centres in the region is very inadequate to meet emergency needs.
"None of the storm shelter centres can accommodate more than 500. Most of the coastal people in Khulna need shelter during disasters. So, the existing shelter centres can save only a very small portion of the total population of the region," he said.
Some of the shelters now in place also are suffering from age and lack of repair.
Rashid Ahmed, a villager in Bashkhali sub-district under the Chittagong district, said the storm shelter centre in the Kadamrasul area has developed several large cracks and become unusable after it was not repaired.
He estimated that of 116 storm shelter centres in the area, 60 were not functioning effectively because of lack of maintenance.
Ahmed said that the lack of shelters threatened around 600,000 people in the sub-district. About 42,000 people there were killed during the devastating 1991 cyclone.
Syful Islam is a senior reporter with The New Nation newspaper in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/bangladesh-coastal-residents-at-risk-from-lack-of-storm-shelters/
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