The rains have come...

Streets were already starting to fill with water. Everyone was carefully hiding under the street-side roofs while trying to get a CNG rickshaw. While a local musician was blowing his flute, one local was trying to be the first of twenty (including us) to get a CNG rickshaw, bolts of lightning were striking the heart of Chittagong, and we were getting a cold because temperatures suddenly dropped to 25 degrees, a very kind and soaked man with umbrella was throwing himself at the traffic to make a CNG rickshaw stop for us.



And off we went into the night in a rickshaw that was surprisingly dry, while streets were surprisingly wet. It is sheer impossible to get public transport when it's raining, unless you're willing to be soaked. Rain is not only good for the land, it is also good for the CNG rickshaw drivers. They take the risk of damaging their motors, while they can make twice the profit (no bargaining once you are safe and sound under the rickshaw's roof!).

Once at our guesthouse, we had to wade through the local sewer: our front gate appears to be the lowest land of the neighborhood. I think we mentioned something about sanitation issues in our latest blog. This time the fishes came for us, no need to go on field trips purposefully! Just on a side note, there is no sewer system in this city. People use sceptic tanks, if they can afford it. If not, then they either use latrine pits or the local gutter... which is the one that ends in our front gate...

...all our experiences here are intense. We live a hundred lives and there is something magical about this place that is hard to put in words. The feeling of relief that comes with the first rains is a real experience: even the rickshaw wallahs were laughing and having fun while getting soaked to the bone.

Inshallah!

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The emergency of emergences

It has become apparent that it is difficult to analyze the emergency of a natural disaster within the complex emergences (pre-existing trends and tendencies) of a less economically developed country like Bangladesh. There is only a little gap between the problematic consequences of the emergency and that of the emergences. A more economically developed country can deal with a disaster in a more isolated manner since it can, relatively, get a much higher priority. Note that we consider yearly floods, winds and monsoon rains part of the emergences more than emergencies. Until now, we have looked at the impacts of the 1991 disaster in Chittagong city and district. This made it possible to analyze the long-term effects of a disaster and get an insight in the emergences.


There have been numerous responses to the cyclone by the government and NGO's. Spatial redevelopment has been planned to some extent, related directly to disaster prevention, but formal plans are hard to realize or can have adverse effects. For instance, the government has pointed out locations where building is not permitted unless buildings leave open the first floor. This makes the areas less profitable for developers, so that informal settlements take over the land where formal settlements are restricted. The question we are facing, thus, is how to understand the complexity of the issue of post-natural disaster redevelopment, if it has such an informal character. One intriguing formal project by the government, on the other hand, is the planting of mangrove forests along the coastal zone (up to 300 meters in width). This will decrease the wind speeds of a cyclone.

We have had difficulties to accurately research the first phase of aid after the 1991 cyclone, because it is such a long time ago. One thing we did conclude, however, is the lack of proper infrastructure. There is one proper tarmac road that runs from Dhaka to Chittagong and Cox's Bazaar. But as soon as you take a turn away from the road, the small embankment roads will not let you drive faster than walking speed, if at all. A lot of roads are made of bricks... and the lack of them. It makes us wonder how the first phase post-disaster aid can be executed properly. Those living in remote areas will be extremely vulnerable, after losing everything (including tube wells) and being cut off from the aid. Aid may be possible by boat. Still it is interesting that relatively little is done about these roads. Could NGO's be more involved also with the upgrading of roads, as it will enhance the first phase of post-disaster aid? With flooding, roads tend to get damaged, so that repair works seem to be a yearly process. The damage of cyclones and floods on the infrastructure, as well as the modality of aid transport, is something we can further investigate in the Sidr effected regions.


This leads us to the following question as well: where is the boundary between the task of the government and that of the NGO's in a country where there is relatively little governmental funding? NGO's obviously prefer to deal with people directly: sad faces attract money, happy faces justify the spent money. However, the pre-disaster problem of infrastructure also becomes a problem in the post-disaster setting. Does proper infrastructure not give the people opportunities, as well as a quicker aid during disaster response? Note that we do not blame NGO's for their work! Rather, we are interested to look at the role that the NGO's can have within the Bangladesh government.

Cyclone shelters can save the lives of many people. Awareness programs make sure people move to these shelters. Raised lands (killas) can save the people's livestock. But when the people return, the first urgent issues seem to be the lack of proper sanitation and drinking water. After that, the people will be concerned with their livelihood: did the cattle survive, where is the boat, how are the crops, is the garment factory closed, what to do as a rickshaw puller? And after that, spatial redevelopment is often informal.

This is why our research has, until now, very much focused on the first two issues as described above. We will narrow down our research more towards the short-term effects when we get to the Sidr (2007 cyclone) effected region. Due to the research in the emergences and long-term effects of the cyclones, we aim on understanding the short-term emergencies based on this.

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Chittagong Chow (urban): Cooking up a storm on independence day

Trying out a situationist approach on the 38th birthday of Bangladesh, we decided to start the day with a walk! It seems, though, that wherever we go we create quite a crowd of gawking young men, all asking us “your country?”, education, marital status, favorite color, mother's middle name, personal idol, astrological convictions, and of course general opinions about Bangladesh. Everyone wants to indulge us in the Bengali hospitality and sometimes it can almost be a little intimidating. Today was rather exceptional, as we actually had someone admit to us that he had been following us from a student protest rally to a little cha shop - for our own safety.


This year’s independence day was met with mixed feelings around the country; due to recent political unrest all large gatherings were prohibited in the capital, obviously obstructing any big celebrations. In Chittagong however, the feast went on, or so we were told. Exploring this on a local level, we found very little different from everyday life. A lot of shops were closed, but there were no real signs of anything else being different. Deciding to photograph some of the street scenery instead, we got interrogated by a local man who felt insulted that we should be taking photographs of alleys and closed shops, instead of the richness of people living behind these facades. He convinced us to go into one of the houses and photograph a woman with her goats.


After meeting the whole neighborhood, we decided to move on to the center and see if there was anything going on. We were met by a student road blockade, carrying big signs and shouting slogans. Having set out in search of a good party and only finding protest rallies, we decided to take a break from braving the pressing humidity and stop for some tea. There we met the aforementioned student who told us that for our own security he had accompanied us there. This felt a little awkward as we had never had any cause to feel unsafe in Bangladesh.


We decided to leave the tea shop (unfollowed) and go to the national stadium. Outside of the stadium there were many cars with official looking men giving speeches and rallying. Chittagong played a very important role in the independence of Bangladesh as it was here where independence from West Pakistan was first proclaimed in 1971 over a Chittagong radio station. This was followed by a nine-month war, where between 200,000 and 3 million Bangladeshis were killed (depending on whether Pakistani or Bangladeshi sources are being used). This was the final separation of the country after being dominated for centuries respectively by Mauryan, Mughal, and British Empires, and finally 24 years of West Pakistan governance.

The 1947 partition of the Indian subcontinent in many ways created more problems than it solved. The division in which and West and East Pakistan (Bangladesh) were united as one country (because of shared religion) was mainly due to political circumstance. It caused one of the largest cultural migrations in history. The division of these countries has implications for all aspects of modern Bangladesh. Being almost landlocked by India, water management of the three main rivers that flow through Bangladesh has proved very difficult without mutual cooperation.


Pondering these thoughts as we finally headed into the stadium, we found the action had already taken place. A little confused, we headed back home, were the pressing weather exploded in a thunderstorm of black rain, seeming strangely appropriate.

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Chittagong Chow (rural): Follow the fish, shrimps, salt and rice

Thanks to Caritas, we were able to make a second field trip into the very remote areas between Chittagong and Cox’s Bazar that were most affected by the 1991 cyclone and are most vulnerable for future cyclones. All still recovering from stomach upsets, we set off (by local bus) to cross the great Karnaphuli river once again en route to the highway cum embankment to Cox’s Bazar. The bridge, originally donated by the Dutch in the 70’s, was destroyed by a flying crane (!) in the 1991 cyclone. It was repaired, but will soon be replaced by a fancy new concrete bridge donated by Kuwait. The construction is under a lot of pressure, as the ends of the bridge must meet before the cyclone season starts (in April) to avoid history repeating itself…


We carried out our fieldwork in the disaster stricken areas of the Pekua and Moheshkali upazilas (subdivisions of the Cox’s Bazar district). The focus of the fieldwork was to gain insight into the vulnerabilities of different livelihoods in the area, seeing as economic migration is one of the main spatial tendencies in Bangladesh.

We stayed in Chaukaria town, a typical linear city so characteristic for Bangladesh. From here we went on life-threatening bus trips, off-road CNG drives, jaw-rattling rickshaw rides and cross-river rafting adventures to some of the most remote areas of the country. Everywhere we traveled we were met by smiles, apologies for not being able to provide more hospitality, and emotive stories of friends and family members lost in the Gorky cyclone of 1991.


Interestingly enough, many of the villagers that were interviewed had migrated to the area from other disaster areas (river erosion and embankment failure). The ‘leftover’ land that they had chosen to settle on was extremely vulnerable to cyclones, a fact they all experienced in 1991. Despite the great tragedy this disaster brought about, most people returned to the government-owned squatted land after the disaster due to strong family ties. Hardly any of the villagers actually owned their own land. Besides this, most also appeared to have multiple livelihoods; usually consisting of a main livelihood and renting out services as a day laborer to make some extra money.

There also appeared to be a strong hierarchy in livelihoods; for instance the shrimp farmers seemed to be much better off than the pure day laborers. We found this was closely linked to the disaster vulnerability of the different livelihoods. Salt farming seemed to be the most resilient as salt can be stored underground during a cyclone and the harvest isn't dependant on the yearly seasons. Shrimp cultivation tended to take more than 2 years to regenerate; despite this it was a profitable business (shrimps are seen as a luxury product and are for a larg part exported). Fishermen could store their nets and boats in the channel between the mainland and the off shore islands to save them from destruction. However cyclones tend to affect the fish population quite drastically. Rice farmers came out most vulnerable after a cyclone; the saline water completely destroyed the land for several years after a disaster. In extreme cases making the land so barren that the land owners didn't bother to try to cultivate the land again but switched to mining salt (which in turn made the land even more saline).


The different livelihoods directly found their ways onto our plates as well in the local restaurants: the menu seemed to be one of rice, fish, shrimps and vegetables. Local fruits widely available were bananas and coconuts. For some reason on the bazaars everywhere in Bangladesh you only find fancy imported fruits like grapes, apples and oranges. We wound up our trip with a visit to Cox’s bazaar: the world’s longest beach and being voted on as we speak to become one of the new 7 world wonders!

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City slums: Urban Rurality

After meeting with the Chittagong Development Authority and learning of their plans to heighten the embankment and plant mangrove forests, we wanted to visit some of the affected communities living in slum areas around the embankment that protects the city. We got pointed in the direction of the Chittagong City Corporation, where we met architects and urban planners Reza and Shahidul, involved in the department “Healthy City”. They busy themselves with issues surrounding slum development. They immediately invited us on an all day slum excursion, where we visited the most disaster prone and economically poor areas of Chittagong.


We set off in our CNG, in which we thought only three people could fit. However, our super guide Shahidul squeezed himself next to (on top of) our driver and folded his arm around him. The first part of the ride took us through the outskirts of the port area which can be seen as the economic heart of the slums. This is where the broken ship parts (from the shipbreaking industry) are processed and resold to be used in the building industry. Everything is recycled! Due to the port proximity, it is also where most of the garment factories are located, one of Bangladesh’s largest economic export products.

Our first stop was at a Hindu Fishing community, an informal settlement that was under development by the Chittagong City Corporation. People were proudly laying bricks for a narrow path (three bricks wide) through the small structures. We had not quite expected to be walking on such a good looking pathway in our first slum. We could see that these people were fishermen, due to the fishing nets that were used as fencing. There was one toilet for the whole community, which was apparently not sufficient. Most houses were in the traditional Kanchi style, made of bamboo. They preferred this over the tin sheeting due to interior climate, although parts of the bamboo houses needed to be rebuilt. The spaces were small, housing ten people on twelve square meters. Despite their struggles, these people were very friendly and the children were extremely playful. Just outside of the community, a canal was dug out again for water flow. Things were clearly under development.


We then moved on to a local farm next to the embankment. First of all, it was surprising to see farm land inside such a huge city. Secondly, it was even more surprising to see Frisian cows invading the countryside! They were famous, because they came from "Australia". The ground was clearly very fertile. Rice paddies were green as green can be. The main problem the farmer faces, is the lack of killas (raised land) to protect the cattle in case of cyclones and flooding.

The next stop was at the embankment itself, where we met with some fishermen and had a cup of tea. There were two embankments. One was newer and used as a highway. It was not possible to access this road from these villages, making them less connected. The other embankment had an old dirt road, which was nothing our CNG driver couldn't handle. The fisherman on the good side of the embankments have lived in the area for a long time. They have suffered greatly from the 1991 cyclone, and they surely do not feel comfortable with their current situation if a new cyclone would hit the area.


On the other side of the embankment, a vital group of women lived on government owned land. They came from the Barisal region, where they had lost their husbands during the Sidr disaster of 2007. They migrated towards the city to earn a living. In Chittagong, they now collect and sort garbage until they get removed from their land. The people were full of life and exclaimed: "Where there is work, there we will go".

After visiting two other cyclone shelters, where we witnessed a Rabindranath concert by candlelight, we moved on to the meet all the "family" of our guide. Everyone was very hospitable, and apparently we now are part of his extended family!


The next day the NGO Codec took us to another fishermen village, where they worked with a participatory approach to develop their living standards and awareness regarding cyclones. Some of their main concerns included: the still weak embankments, broken sluice, lack of cyclone shelters, and weakness of own houses. Towards the shore we could see a new mangrove forest that was planted to protect the area from cyclones. People said they spent 200-300 euro for a bamboo house structure, which they could build in one week. Codec also did research in the possibilities of micro-insurance systems in case of disaster.

For our latest field trip, YPSA (a local NGO) took us to visit a garment factory and their communities. Quite understandably, most of the workers were not at home in their homes. We did visit a local bakery and went to two schools. The children dreamt of becoming doctors, teachers, or famous cricket players. We spoke with an old man who had lost his eyes during construction work. He and his wife now relied on the help of family and friends for food. The man told us that the water came up to his chin during the 1991 cyclone, and that people took shelter on top of the roofs. Most people migrated from more rural areas like Comilla due to land loss from river erosion. The men often work in the ship-breaking industry, while the younger women work at the garment industry. 600 people worked at the local garment factory, most of which were women. The factory appeared to be well organized, although we only got to see two of the working floors. Most of the valuable machineries were stored on the higher floors to prevent from flooding. One of the officials informed us that there is currently a trend around the country to move garment factories out of the city. In Chittagong, however, the factories still rely on the proximity of the port. Another 1000 of these factories exist in Chittagong itself. It is a huge industry.


Yesterday, we were supposed to finish our research week with a trip to the ship-breaking communities, guided by YPSA. YPSA has been fighting for better working conditions within these ship-breaking industries, and to stop child labour that supposedly makes up 25% of the working force at these yards. At the moment of departure, however, we were informed that we would not be able to go due to security issues. Today we read in the local news paper, that workers made a human chain of 10 km to protest against a court case that forces several ship yards to close. Apparently, they chanted slogans against NGO's, and YPSA in particular. They blamed the NGO's for potentially losing 30.000 jobs in the industry.

We are great with timing.

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Happy world water day!

Today is world water day, a day in which we can dream of clean fresh drinking water for all Bangladeshi. And us. Unfortunately, though, one of the main water related issues in Bangladesh is the lack of clean drinking water. The safest water is bottled water, but not all of the brands produce the same quality. Tube wells are used to extract ground water, which is more or less fresh, but not very drinkable. People either cook or filter this water, but even then bacteria may still remain. Additionally, Bangladesh is facing a huge problem with arsenic that is mixed with the ground water. For us, as short-term visitors, this will not be a problem. But there are severe long-term effects for chronic intake of arsenic water. A lot of research is being done to solve this issue.


Secondly, there is the problem of sanitation in Bangladesh. Proper sewerage systems are lacking, and the frequent occurrence of flooding makes it difficult to separate sanitation drainage from the urban areas and fresh water supplies. As a result, a lot of people die due to diarrheal outbreaks. These outbreaks also occur after natural disasters, and can take more casualties than the short term effects of the disaster itself.

So let's hope things will improve for Bangladesh, and call for a happy world water day! Although, honestly, we're not all enjoying it as much as we like. By now, we've fully, uhm, acclimatized. Food here resembles alcohol: you enjoy it greatly at the moment of intake, but one has a strong regret the day after. Especially Magnus and Diederik went through some of the problems of sanitation and drinking water in person, and on multiple occasions. The hungover diet included ORS and Immodium ("an ORS a day, keeps the doctor away"). We have the luxury of staying in bed for a day or two, but the poor people of Bangladesh do not have this option, so that their condition becomes dangerous. As our stomachs turn, we feel for the people of Bangladesh...

The only hope may be, that the cause comes from our Malarone Malaria pills. When reading through the side effects, we stumbled upon: "diarrhea, stomach pains, vomiting, headaches, and fever". To name a few all too familiar symptoms, that may be unnecessary because Malaria doesn't actually exist over here (more up in the hills). We hope this is actually the case, or else the rural areas will become quite a journey. We promise to show the GPS map of sanitation spots!

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Formal: summary of research

We have been in Bangladesh for almost two weeks now. During the first week, we made a lot of contacts in Dhaka, the capital city. We tried to use our time there to get as much information from earlier researches as possible. Through discussions with experienced people from various fields, we were able to construct a framework and get a lot of inputs. After the first week, we moved to Chittagong, the second city of Bangladesh. It is a harbour city of four milion inhabitants, and the economic heart of the country. We continued to expand our contact list, but also did our first two field researches.

For the first field research, we moved to the more "rural" areas (still densely populated between Chittagong and Cox's Bazaar. We also visited Mognama, one of the most effected cities during the 1991 Gorky cyclone. There were a lot of cyclone shelters. We had the chance to visit some of them, and were also able to talk with locals in Mognama (informal in-depth interview). For the second field trip we were guided into some of the slum areas of Chittagong. The inhabitants of these areas were often displaced people due to one of the disasters in the country. The poeople were very friendly and willing to talk.

The discussions and field trips have shaped our way of thinking about the issue of natural disasters in Bangladesh. We are now in the process of writing down all the ideas we have, without linking them just yet. Some of the most interesting leads we have are:

The lack of shelters for possessions: people can be saved by making cyclone shelters for them to hide during the storm. However, their livelihoods rely heavily on the possessions the people have. These include: their crops, livestock, working tools, materials, etc. In the cities, people are reluctant to move to cyclones since they are afraid their possessions might be stolen. In more rural areas, people fear that they will lose their livestock and crops. For the last category, so called "killas" can be constructed. These are six meter high hills where livestock can stay relatively safe.

The scarcity of land: there is a scarcity of land, even in more rural areas. The land has been divided by among the growing amount of family members. This means that people rely on small patches of land. Small farmers have a hard time making a living. As a result, they are under constant pressure to sell their land to other land owners. When they do sell their land, the family will move illegally to government owned land outside of the river embankments (dangerous), or move to the city and live in informal settlements. We will be researching this migration in the coming weeks.

River erosion: one of the big issues in Bangladesh is river erosion. Rivers tend to constantly be on the move. Agricultural land and dwellings are being consumed by the delta rivers. This is another reason for the migrations as described above. There are several reasons for these river problems. Upstream there is a dam in India controlling the water inflow, and India is preparing to build another dam as we speak. Mangroves protect the coastal zone near the Sundarbans, but these mangroves are lacking in the eastern part of the Bay of Bengal. There are projects to plant mangrove forests there.

Linear cities: cities in Bangladesh tend to grow in a linear way along the major infrastructure connections. This seems to be an unplanned consequence. These roads are very lively, making them ideal places for small shops and industries. Also, the roads are often built on embankments (raised land to protect from flooding). The land is therefore more safe to build as it is higher. These roads have a very urban feel to them. But as soon as one takes a side street, the urbanity changes into a form of rurality. Encapsuled within the main infrastructure are the agriculture lands. This is why the rural areas can hardly be called rural. The urban and rural are intertwined, both spatially and culturally.

Holy water: in the Netherlands we now see a tendency to move away from only blocking the water from the land. Rising dykes, and poldering land may not be permanent solutions to the problem of water quantity. In Bangladesh, however, people have lived with water for a long time. They rely on the land to be flooded. This makes their land so extremely fertile. At the moment, however, there is a tendency to rise the embankments and "take control over the land". There is an apparent conflict between the need for the water, and the fear for the water. How can Bangladesh cope with this paradox?

There are many more interesting leads, or "fishes" as we call them (see our previous powerpoint presentations). We will be looking into these and post a summary of our main findings as much as we can. Feel free to comment or start a discussion!

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