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Last modified on Tuesday, 22 August 2017 00:00

29 spots in high risk of riverbank erosion

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The Centre for Environmental and Geographic Information Services (CEGIS), a trustee organisation of the water resources ministry, has identified 29 high risk spots for riverbank erosion in 2017 through a detailed study of satellite data.

Development organisation BRAC is running an alert campaign in six upazilas of four districts, which are among the high-risk spots identified by CEGIS. The areas are Roumari upazila of Kurigram, Sariakandi upazila of Bogra, Pangsha and Kalukhali upazilas of Rajbari and Jajira and Noria upazilas of Shariatpur. The BRAC campaign is disseminating information to the local people about the intensity of bank erosion in these areas and consequent risk of loss.

Speakers revealed this information at an event titled ‘Consultative meeting on early warning for riverbank erosion’ today on Monday (21 August 2017). The government Department of Disaster Management, CEGIS and BRAC organised the event.

Experts at the meeting ascribed the current rise in the intensity of bank erosion to three main factors, which are, climate change impact, water level rise in river systems during monsoon and recent change in the course of some major rivers. Every year numerous people are becoming destitute overnight, losing all their farmland and homesteads into the rivers. This situation calls for urgent action for making bank erosion forecasts available to the vulnerable communities living on or near the riverbanks at risk.

Speakers at the meeting also called on the government to take immediate measures for riverbank protection, building of new embankments and urgent repair work for damaged embankments.

Sudipta Kumar Hore, junior specialist, River, Delta and Coastal Morphology Division, CEGIS, presented keynote paper titled ‘Early warning of riverbank erosion for 2017’. Md Jafar Iqbal, senior sector specialist, Disaster Management and Climate Change (DMCC) programme of BRAC, also presented another keynote paper titled ‘Riverbank erosion prediction and dissemination: Cases from past years’.

Gawher Nayeem Wahra, director, DMCC, BRAC, and Dr Maminul Haque Sarker, deputy executive director (development), CEGIS, moderated the meeting. KAM Morshed, director, Advocacy for Social Change, BRAC, Syeda Meherunnesa, deputy director, Department of Disaster Management, officials from Bangladesh Water Development Board, university teachers and representatives from non-governmental organisations also spoke at the event.

Gawher Nayeem Wahra said, ‘The technological skills we have mastered so far on riverbank erosion forecasts will be truly rewarding when we will be able to effectively disseminate the information to the common people and utilise this information in strengthening our river system management.’

Dr Maminul Haque Sarker said, ‘Natural calamities like floods and cyclones bring loss to people but they do not lose their land. But riverbank erosion takes away people’s land, both farmland and homesteads. Effective river management therefore remains a high priority issue for us.’

BRAC’s DMCC programme has been implementing a project on the risk of riverbank erosion, forecast and advice in different districts with the technical support from CEGIS. The objective of this consultative meeting was to discuss ways and methods for effective dissemination of forecasts and alert messages on bank erosion in 13 vulnerable spots of 16 upazilas in eight districts.

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