Ongoing Tensions with India Over Flood Management

Severe Flooding Displaces Nearly 300,000 in Bangladesh

Severe flooding has impacted large areas of Bangladesh, leaving nearly 300,000 people in emergency shelters, according to disaster officials.The floods, caused by intense monsoon rains, have resulted in at least 42 fatalities in both Bangladesh and India since the beginning of the week, with many victims succumbing to landslides.

Lufton Nahar a 60-year-old resident in Fenni, one of the most severely impacted districts near the Indian border, described her alarming situation: “My home is entirely submerged. Water covers our roof. My brother brought us here by boat. Without him, we would have perished.”

Flooding in Bangladesh :

Bangladesh, with a population of 170 million, intersects numerous rivers and has faced recurring floods in recent years. The annual monsoon season causes a lot of damage, and climate change is changing weather patterns and making extreme weather events happen more often.

Damage to highways and railway lines between Dhaka, the capital, and Chittagong, the primary port city, has hampered access to severely flooded regions and disrupted commerce.

This flooding followed closely on the heels of a student-led uprising that resulted in the removal of the government. Cox’s Bazar, which houses around 1 million Rohingya refugees from Myanmar, is among the areas most affected by the floods.

Sarwat Kumar Das an official with the disaster agency in Tripura, India. reported that , 24 individuals had died on the Indian side of the border since Monday.

Additionally, Bangladesh has recorded 18 fatalities, according to Md Kamrul Hasan, secretary of the disaster management ministry. He stated that 285,000 individuals are currently residing in emergency shelters, with a total of 4.5 million people impacted by the disaster.

At the time the floods struck, Bangladesh was attempting to recover from several weeks of civil unrest, culminating in the departure of the authoritarian former leader Sheikh Hasina from the country.

An interim government, spearheaded by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Younis, is still establishing its authority. Meanwhile, local residents have been engaging in crowdfunding efforts to provide relief, organized by the same students involved in the protests that led to Hasina’s removal, who is now in India.

Relief activities :

On Friday, crowds gathered at Dhaka University to make cash donations while students prepared to transport rice and bottled water to the affected areas.

Much of Bangladesh consists of deltas where major Himalayan rivers, such as the Ganges and the Brahmaputra, flow toward the sea after passing through India.

Although forecasts indicate that rainfall is expected to lessen in the upcoming days, several tributaries of these rivers continue to be overflowed.