River Bank Erosion

This is an ongoing disaster and there is no specific indicator to measure the extent of damage. So the extent of damage caused by river erosion in most cases is based on various reports/information. Needless to say whatever the difference in ascertaining the extent of damage river erosion causes huge loss of property throughout the year. According to “World Disaster Report 2001” published by IFRCS every year about 10,00,000 people are affected by river erosion and 9,000 hectare cultivable lands are banished in river. Among these only a few affected people are able to find new shelters while others become homeless for uncertain period.

River erosion in Bangladesh is no less dangerous than other sudden and devastating calamities. Losses due to river erosion occur slowly and gradually. Though losses are slow and gradual, they are more destructive and far-reaching than other sudden and devastating calamities. The effects of river erosion are long-term . It takes a few decades to make up the losses, which a family has incurred by river erosion. There has been little progress, however, for improving the lives of erosion-affected people due to resource constraint.

Rivers in Bangladesh are morphologically highly dynamic. The main rivers are braided, and form islands or chars between the braiding channels. These chars, of which many are inhabited, "move with the flow" and are extremely sensitive to changes in the river conditions. Erosion processes are highly unpredictable, and not compensated by accretion. These processes also have dramatic consequences in the lives of people living in those areas. A study concluded in 1991 reported that: out of the 462 administrative units in the country, 100 were subject to some form of riverbank erosion, of which 35 were serious, and affected about 1 million people on a yearly basis. Around 10,000 hectares land is eroded by river per year in Bangladesh (NWMP, 2001). The erosion prone zones of Bangladesh are shown in the Figure 6.

Kurigram, Gaibandha, Jamalpur, Bogra, Sirajganj, Tangail, Pabna and Manikganj districts lie in the erosion prone area along Jamuna River. Erosion of total area and settlement is higher along the left bank than that of the right bank. Along Padma River, there are the districts of Rajbari, Faridpur, Manikganj, Dhaka, Munshiganj, Shariatpur and Chandpur. A recent study of CEGIS (2005) shows that bank erosion along Padma River during 1973 – 2004 was 29,390 hectares and along Jamuna River during 1973 – 2004, it was 87,790 hectares. As relevant to this study, loss of land, settlements, roads and embankments due to erosion in 2004 in Sirajganj and Faridpur districts is shown in Table 4.
 

Table 4: Erosion of agricultural land, roads, embankments and settlements along the banks of the Jamuna and Padma in 2004 in Sirajganj and Faridpur districts

District

Upazila

Total Land (ha)

Eroded Infrastructures

Settlement (ha)

District Road (m)

Upazila Road (m)

Rural Road (m)

Embankment (m)

Sirajganj

Kazipur

177

50

 

176

84

1617

Sirajganj Sadar

170

13

1

 

164

2107

Belkuchi

0

0

 

 

 

 

Chauhali

207

45

 

395

 

 

Shahjadpur

148

31

159

 

 

 

Total

702

139

160

571

248

3724

Faridpur

Faridpur Sadar

200

57

 

1175

370

 

Char Bhadrasan

78

17

320

 

 

 

Sadarpur

3

1

 

 

 

 

Total

281

75

320

1175

370

 

Source: CEGIS, 2005
Picture:Figure 6: Areas Prone to Various Disasters, including River Erosion (Source: NWRD 2001)