JAMALPUR, Feb 11, 2022 (BSS) – When monsoon approached every year in the past, Eamily Begum (50) was gripped by a dread thinking of how she and her nine-member family would pass their coming days, as her homestead was frequently hit hard by flood.

“Every year, our locality is inundated due to flooding. People have to stay floating by preparing rafts on flood water,” she said.         

But, Eamily, who has been living in Char Shovagacha of Madarganj upazila, was lucky enough as she increased her homestead plinth last year with support from a PKSF project, which helped her family minimise flood consequences.

She said: “Our homestead was on low-lying area before and that was why our home was flooded every year, increasing our suffering during monsoon.”   

Eamily, a mother of nine, said once flood hit her home in the past, they had to face untold miseries as they had no way to stay home amid the flood situation.

“Along with our all belongings and domestic animals, we had to go to a shelter centre located one kilimetre away from our home. But, after raising the plinth of our homestead, flood cannot cause havoc to us,” she said.

Like Eamily, many people of Jamalpur’s char areas have already increased the plinth of their homesteads with support from the Extended Community Climate Project-Flood (ECCCP-Flood) being implemented by Palli Karma Sahayak Foundation (PKSP).

The poor and marginalised people living in the flood-prone areas generally depend on agriculture for their livelihood, which is highly sensitive to climate change. These climate-induced disasters affect habitation, crop production, availability of water and sanitation system.

Thus, the US$ 13.33-million ECCC-Flood project aims to provide climate-resilient shelters, livelihood, safe drinking water and sanitation for these people.

The four-year project, which was initiated in April 2020, is being implemented in the five most flood vulnerable districts – Kurigram, Nilphamari, Lalmonirhat, Gaibandha and Jamalpur - in Bangladesh with financial support from Green Climate Fund (GCF).

However, the PKSP in collaboration with the regional partner of Eco Social Development Organization (ESDO) is carrying out project works at Sharishabari and Madarganj upazilas in Jamalpur district.    

Md Pogidur Rahman, ECCCP-Flood project coordinator of Jamalpur, said the main activities of the projects are: raising homestead plinths in clusters and providing financial support for the flood victims to reconstruct climate resilient houses on the raised plinths.

In addition to those, he said, supports are being provided to increase their access to safe water and sanitation by installing tube-wells and constructing sanitary latrines.

The project also provides support to them to rear goat and sheep in slatted houses and for extension of high value agricultural technology in flood-prone areas.

About the project outcomes, Pogidur said over 878 homestead plinths have already raised as people of vulnerable communities    can save their assets from flood.

About 560 goat-slatted houses were constructed so far, while about 2140 are being reared in these houses, he added.

The people living in the riverine char areas are highly vulnerable to extreme climate events, particularly floods. Their homesteads see regular inundation even during normal flood and their livelihoods depend on subsistence agriculture and agriculture labour wage, which are very sensitive to flooding. They lost their crops almost every alternative year.

Dr Muhammed Forruq Rahman, manager (research and advocacy) of the Network on Climate Change, Bangladesh (NCC, B), said women in the char areas are particularly vulnerable to flooding as they have to look after their children and old-aged family members apart from collecting drinking water, cooking food and managing domestic animals.

He said adolescent girls and women are also vulnerable to sexual harassment during flood because they have to stay on embankments or shelter centres.

These poor communities always struggle to meet their daily essential commodities and have the least capacity to address the additional threats, Rahman said, adding that thus the ECCCP-Flood project would help the char dwellers cope with their plights.