The Impact of Cyclone Sidr

From the English newspaper Daily Star I learned only on Saturday of the devastating impact of Cyclone Sidr that had hit Bangladesh in the night from Thursday to Friday. It was one of the 10 fiercest Cyclones that had hit the region of Bangladesh in the 131 years between 1876 to 2007. The highest wind speed of Sidr was recorded in Barisal a southern coastal district of Bangladesh at 223 km/h. Weather experts said that Bangladesh faces cyclones every year during pre-monsoon (April –May) and post-monsoon (October-November) seasons due to it geographical position. The number of casualties is set by over 700 by now. It demolished houses, crops, vegetables and trees. Around 95 percent of standing crops such as rice in the coastal regions have been affected badly. Even though many people’s lives could be saved due to well organised warning and emergency efforts houses, belongings of the poor living there, crops and cattle are affected severely. The massive destruction of harvest will further increase the already high inflation rate making those who had only very little before the hurricane even poorer in the aftermath. One area heavily hit by tidal waves 2 meter above normal ones was the Sundarbarns, the largest Mangrove belt in the world. The Sundarbarns are home of some unique sub-continental wildlife like the Royal Bengali Tiger, the pride of Bangladesh, 270 different species of birds, deer, wild boars, monkeys, crocodiles, and over 5 species of reptiles. Environmentalists and bio-diversity experts fear immense loss to the Sundarbarns and its wildlife. Sidr left a trail of devastation. Some experts said they fear that many wildlife might have been washed away under the weight of uprooted trees. The cyclone furthermore caused the country’s power system to collapse entirely for the whole Friday. The nation-wide blackout triggered a knock-on effect on piped water supplies, on telecommunication systems, and on filling stations. The lack of power also disconnected Bangladesh from any information on the prevailing disaster situation. The power black out started at 7.57 am on Friday morning. I went to the Cyber Café to write my blog on Travelling in Bangladesh. Even though the Cyber Café was open they told me that they were waiting for electricity supplies that were supposed to be back after an hour. The computers of the Cyber Café were running over generators and for some hours of the day they were really working and I could, though with some breaks of various hours, finish it. Even though the technicians were working hard all day they did not succeed to restore the basic power supply. Their efforts were hardly hit when the national power grid completely failed for the second time around 5.30 pm, leaving the country black throughout the whole night. Apart from the lack of light many households were lacking water as they could not start water pumps. I stayed at home with Nurjahan, the family’s "servant", as Flora, the landlady had gone to Chittagong. Since there was no electricity we had to rely on candlelight and there was not much to do. Apart from being very boring, the disconnection from any information on the situation was quite irritating. Nobody knew what was going on and when electricity would come back. Some neighbors said that we would have been cut of for the following 5 days and that we should fill canisters with water as long as we would have supplies. Compared to those who had lost their shelters and belongings our situation was really peanuts and so I was not too much worried. Nurjahan has been staying with the family for the last 20 years. She comes from a very poor family from Barisal, the area most hit by Sidr, and is not able to read nor to write. Obviously she does not speak English. We however understand each other in a way but our conversation remains very basic. We rely on my few Bangla and her few English words and on body language. For richer families in Bangladesh it is quite usual to have a "servant", what they literally are. They earn very little (EUR 10 a month) but get free accommodation and food. According to the landlords they are thus much better off as they were if they stayed with their families. Even though it is not really easy for them they cannot do much about it since they usually lack savings, knowledge and skills.
For having opportunities in life you do not necessarily need to know to read or to write but you need a basic start up capital and some skills. The Grameen Credit Model combines these two by offering micro-credit and a social development program to its members. Micro-credit enables a poor woman to generate income by starting self-employment to cover her daily basic needs. It supports her in building up assets in order to improve her physical conditions and it makes her able to save the money exceeding her daily expenses to protect herself against risks and reduce her vulnerability to physical, economic and social shocks. Grameen’s Social Development Program empowers a poor woman by and teaches her skills and males her acquire knowledge on her social and political rights. She thus gets the chance to develop herself and her life-status. . The Grameen Credit Model aims not only at supporting its borrowers to cross the poverty line but rather focuses on stimulating socio-economic changes by exercising political rights towards political and social freedom.
Knowledge and skills permit us to be aware of our opportunities, offer us alternatives, and empower us to get the most out of our lives in order to live a decent live.
To me it is kind of cynical that it is almost the most vulnerable of a society who are affected most by natural disasters. Those who struggle day by day to feed themselves and to satisfy their basic needs. Those who lack knowledge and skills and are thus prevented from choices since nobody gives them a chance.
The longer I am here the more I appreciate what I am offered. A rich, diversified and balanced diet (which is quite hard to get here), a safe, decent shelter that protects me against cold, rainy and stormy weather, free access to education that enabled me to acquire knowledge and skills, and free health care. We usually take these things for granted since we are already used to them pretty much. Being confronted with poverty every single day I do get more aware of them and see things now in a much different light.