Aftermath Of Yash

Damaged dam, waterlogged people, drowned cattle,
Tidal wave of a calm storm tests the South-West's mettle.
Fresh credit is needed to resume activity.
Database is a must to trace loss of livestock in any calamity.

A cyclone, named Yash,swept across the South-West part of Bangladesh. It was the tidal surge that caused much of the damage. Full scale of the damage has not yet been ascertained. Bits and pieces of news of the damage are being reported on the press daily. Both men and livestock alike sustained losses. Snapshots provided by nuggets of news reports helped the readers grasp the ordeals the affected people went through.

Loss of lives so far confined to 11 deaths. But loss of livestock was huge. In Bhola alone Yash served a devastating blow to the cattle-rearer. A news report, quoting stat furnished by Department of Livestock, reported that 7,414 livestock had been killed by Yash, affecting another 65,000. Initial loss was reported to be Tk 14.054 million. ¹.

Accompanying tidal surge wreaked the havoc. 91-km-long embankment sustained damage in the hardly hit districts. In Borishal, 120 villages went under water, affecting more than 100,000 households. In Pirojpur, 100 villages were submerged. In Patuakhali , Yash flooded 123 villages. In Cox's Bazar, 121 villages were inundated. Villages in Borguna, Jhalakathi,Khulna and Satkhira were also flooded².

Commercial agricultural activities suffered most. In Pirojpur,7318 hectares of Aus seed bed went under water. In Borishal, 1728 fish-farming structures and ponds were washed away. Meanwhile, 2139 fish-farming structures and ponds in Patuakhali,2151 ponds in Pirojpur,1249 ponds and piscicultural lands in Borguna, 3000 fish-farming structures in Bagerhat,3600 hectares of shrimp and piscicultural lands in Satkhira were washed away. In Cox's Bazar, accompanying rain washed away 2100 tons of sea salt².

In addition, there are reports that thousands of people are living a trapped life in many waterlogged areas. Sea water brought by tidal wave made the matter worst. In Koyra, Khulna, 30,000 people have no access to drinking water as saline water rendered useless traditional sources of drinking water³.

Tourist hotspots like Cox's Bazar and Kuakata also suffered a lot. In Kuakata, 200 small businesses on the shore were directly hit, including hotels, motels and markets. Marine drive road of Cox's Bazar developed cracks after being inundated by Yash.⁴.

In Sundarbans, world's largest mangrove forest, deer, pigs, piglets were drowned. Swollen rivers of Sudarbans washed away thousands of animals in the breeding period of the year.

As the region is lying on sea-level, makeshift embankments are required to protect human settlements and farmlands. Damages in the embankments are being repaired voluntarily by villagers. Poor work during the construction was also blamed. Even public representatives like MP faced wrath of the villagers for the poor work. In Khulna, a local MP went to see the repair work faced the wrath of the villagers, who greeted him throwing mud⁵.

Few months ago, I came across a Facebook post on a page dedicated to old photographs. The post claimed that before the partition the Hindu zamindar in Satkhira set up an embankment with the help of his subjects. The earthen embankment went through regular repair work before the Monsoon. So heavy rain and tidal surge did little damage to the people and farmland. This kind of homegrown and ingenious mean is not visible right now⁶.

This is the same region that witnessed the horror of Cyclone Amphan and two floods a year ago. Back then many NGOs provided them calves to recuperate their loss. Those may be washed away right now. Moreover many are in danger of being defaulter as they borrow money from cooperative, moneylenders or other microcredit organizations to run their farm and non-farm activities.

Fresh credit, interest-free, is needed to resume economic activities there. Government may offer it through credit organizations or via district administration. Interest-free credit will work like a screening mechanism to pick up the true victim. Credit providing institution will do an assessment of the need of the borrowers, keeping at bay the fake ones.

This will tremendously help rehabilitation efforts since misuse of funds will be lower and would-be alleys of corruption will be checked.

One of the lessons left by cyclone Yash is that tidal wave caused huge damage to infrastructures like roads, embankments, houses and other administrative buildings. In addition, the area is prone to river erosion. Hundreds of buildings disappear into river in that area every year.

Instead of permanent concrete structures, we could build these structures on berge or prefabricated steel structure that could easily be moved or shifted to a safer place or float in water in catastrophic events. There is no point in throwing the money into river.

At the same time, a livestock database should be created in the coastal region. So that loss of livestock could be measured and true victim could be identified.

Creation of this database will help the government to trace the marginalized cattle-rearer poultry-farmers and will help designing support programs --- monetary as well as technical --- in times of need.

Another thing I noticed is that there is no widespread deployment of security personnel to facilitate the rehabilitation program this time. They could be used to repair the embankments. And dry food and drinking water could be transported to waterlogged areas. Army, Navy recruit Rakhals(shepherds) to maintain cattle herd in their controlled territory. Could this resource as well as vessels they operate be used to move or rescue cattle of poor people in time of desperation? In this cyclone, we did not see any role of them in protecting public property.

Yash did not take many lives but did serve a heavy blow to livestock. Rural households save their money by raising livestock. At one fell swoop, Yash wiped out that savings. True assessment done by Red Cross and administration will give a clear picture of the damage. There is no doubt they need fresh credit to get back to normalcy. They are counting on government at this trying time.

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Notes and References:

1. Bholae Pranishompoder Bipul Khoti(Huge Loss of Livestock In Bhola), Daily Prothom Alo, May 31, 2021.

2. 91 km Badher Khoti, Koeksho Gram Plabito( 91 km -long Embankment Sustains Damage, Hundreds of Villages Were Inundated, Daily Prothom Alo, May 28, 2021.

3. Koyrai Khawar Panir Sankot(Drinking Water Crisis In Koyra), Daily Prothom Alo, June 01,2021.

4. Saikatjure Yasher Khoto( Beeches Bear Devastation Marks Of Yash), Daily Prothom Alo, May 30,2021.

5. Khotigrosto Badh Dekhte Giye Kadabrishtir Mukhe Sangshad (Mudrain On MP Inspecting Damaged Embankment), Daily Prothom Alo, June 02, 2021.

6. Bangladesher Dushprappo Chhobi Sangraho( Rare Photograph Collection Of Bangladesh), a Facebook page dedicated to publishing rare photographs of Bangladesh.