Together We Stand

[ 67 ] several times by flooding or by bank erosion that causes the land beneath their houses to collapse into the river. “Bangladesh is dependent on agriculture, so in the harvest season people have work but out of season they have none,” said Niger Dilnahar of Islamic Relief Bangladesh (IRB). “People want to stay outside the embankments because it means they can plant and cultivate for themselves. It’s a huge risk but they stay there because they don’t have any other option.” In this most disaster-prone of countries, the issue of food security hinges so much on the unpredictable climate that food production and disaster policy come under a single government department — the Ministry for Food and Disaster Management. The ministry, and aid agencies such as Islamic Relief, work closely together to develop local risk reduction action plans across the country. Village disaster management committees “Islamic Relief works with a local aid agency, the SKS Foundation, to improve the resilience of communities vulnerable to bank erosion and flooding,” said Niger. “We’ve established village disaster management committees to bring together volunteers chosen by their own communities to formulate, implement and evaluate village disaster risk reduction and contingency plans. These committees work with us to raise awareness of disaster risk and take practical steps to protect vulnerable people. The work we’ve done has included road repairs, bridge building and the construction of earth plinths to raise people’s houses and provide community shelters, toilets and tube-wells that are beyond the reach of seasonal floods. We also have an education programme in local schools to teach children about environmental hazards and how to respond to them.” Islamic Relief compiled a cost benefit analysis to assess the impact of one of its biggest successes in Gaibanda so far — the construction of a plinth in South Kabilpur that saved 21 families from the area’s worst floods in a quarter of a century in June 2012. We found that the benefits and savings from the project over five years — what the community saves by protecting homes, trees and livestock from flooding and what Islamic Relief saves on emergency aid — will add up to over £30,000. This represents a benefit of £18 for every £5 spent, a benefit-to-cost ratio of 3.6 to 1. Women play a crucial role in communities like South Kabilpur. They are actively involved in village disaster committees, and serve as what Niger calls ‘first respond- ers’ — the first line of defence for their own families in the event of flooding. Each ensures that her home is equipped with its own flood survival kit — a large basket stored on a high shelf that contains everything needed to fight back when disaster strikes. But the participation of the whole community is important too. “One of the great things about the project is that the community themselves contribute so much,” said Niger. “They contribute their labour and also some money. They don’t just expect help from someone outside.” Safe from floods Asma Begum, 25, has lost her home five times to riverbank erosion or flooding. But her house was left untouched when Gaibanda was hit by its worst floods for 24 years in 2012 — thanks to Islamic Relief’s plinth raising programme. So far Islamic Relief has helped over 180 vulnerable fami- lies in Gaibanda to raise the level of their houses to protect them against flooding. Asma’s family is one of 21 in South Kabilpur who dismantled their homes in the flood plain in early 2012 and rebuilt them 7 feet higher on top of a huge, newly constructed earth platform. In April they moved in — just two months before the floods came. “I have suffered a lot because of riverbank erosion and flooding,” said Asma. “I’ve been through so much pain because you get established on one char, you build your house, you plant your seeds, and then you lose everything. In 2012 we had a big flood like Asma on the ‘plinth’ (earth embankment) that Islamic Relief provided families to rebuild their homes above the projected flood levels Asma with contents of her family’s flood survival kit Image: Martin Cottingham - Islamic Relief Image: Martin Cottingham - Islamic Relief T ogether W e S tand