Editorial
Bracing up for floods
Early weather warning system needs strengthening
Floodwaters have submerged croplands, houses, roads and eroded embankments in about 11 districts of the country as the three major riversPadma, Meghna and Jamunaswelled beyond danger levels in the wake of heavy rain in the states of Arunachal and Assam in India. Along with the three major rivers the water levels of Arial Khan and Kushiyara have also risen worsening the plight of the people.
Clearly, the late monsoon rise in the water levels at the three mighty rivers does not fall in the normal pattern of rainy season floods that the people are used to. And looking at the delayed response of the district administrations to provide relief to the flood-hit people, it appears that the government, too, has been taken by surprise.
Reports say some 150,000 people have been left marooned as the flood has engulfed those districts destroying crops on some 4000 hectares of land in Sirajganj alone as the water levels in the Jamuna crossed the danger level, while in Jamalpur some 25,000 hectares of croplands with standing crops including aman rice, sugarcane and vegetables have gone under water. The river Jamuna in a similar fashion has also affected some 85,000 people in some 51 villages under the Sadar, Ulipur, Chilmari, Raumari and Rajibpur upazilas in the northern district of Kurigram. The Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre (FFWC) has, however, forecast that the water level of the Jamuna may fall.
With the flood situation worsening the condition of the people and livestock of the affected areas is also going from bad to worse. There is acute shortage of drinking water and food for those flood-hit people and fodder for the farm animals. Especially vulnerable among the flood-hit are the children, pregnant women and the very old men and women, as they become the first casualty of the flood. So, the authorities should be quick to arrange emergency relief and medical aid for the areas affected by the flood.
This flood in late monsoon also calls for further updating of the early warning system in our meteorological department. For we have reports of unexpected floods in other parts of the world, too. More than two million people have been dislodged by flood caused by unexpected torrential rain in Pakistan. So, the present flood in Bangladesh should serve as a wake up call for the weather experts so that they may be able to forecast any such future rain, flood or natural calamities of similar nature before it is too late.
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