A poor refuge for climate change victims

Maruf Mallick, bdnews24.com 4 Jun 09;

Dhaka, June 03 (bdnews24.com) – Septuagenarian Nurussafa had eight acres of land at Khudiartek on Kutubdia island, as security in his old age.

He used to raise animals and cultivate salt, until the sea claimed his property. All his precious land now lies under the choppy waters plied by fishing trawlers and ships.

Nurussafa has taken shelter in the sprawling shanty town named 'Kutubdia para' in Cox's Bazar, where around 30,000 people, mostly from the island, have landed in the past two decades after losing homes and land through coastal erosion or the devastating cyclone of 1991.

Kutubdia island, with a population of 100,000, is sinking due to rising sea levels and unabated erosion that has caused half the island to drop into the sea in a matter of decades.

The once 60 sq km island has been reduced to a mere 25 sq km since the 1960s, according to Coast Trust.

The islanders are fast losing their centuries old homesteads, while rising population density—as they are forced to occupy less and less land—gives rise to social and economic unrest.

Low-lying Bangladesh's vulnerability to global climate change and rising sea levels is the main reason for the sad state of Kutubdia island and its climate change victims, experts say.

"I can hardly afford to eat twice a day," said Nurussafa sitting at a tea stall of the densely populated 'para'.

"There was a time when I used to provide work for many people. My boats used to take fishermen out to sea. Now my sons have to run after others' boats," he said.

The old man is unable to work as he once could, but his sons' incomes do not amount to much. Often they remain without work.

Abu Taher Bhandari had land and fields for salt cultivation but now he is a day labourer and sells fish.

His family had everything. They have nothing now. "We had to start from zero again and struggle with poverty," said Bhandari.

Around twenty years ago people like Nurussafa and Bhandari moved to Cox's Bazar with the verbal consent of the deputy commissioner and established Kutubdia para.

The town's College Gate and Peshkar para are also inhabited by victims of erosion, said Imam Hossain, an NGO worker.

They are also taking refuge in Dula Hazra, Khutakhali, Malamghat, Khurukul, Harbhang of the district and Neela Unchi Prang of Teknaf, said Hossain.

But Kutubdia para's 30,000 vulnerable residents have no proper roads, schools or even cyclone shelters while the area if often flooded with tidewater..

"We have nothing, and we have to run for shelter in town when sirens warn us of a cyclone," said a resident of the shanty town.

SAARC Meteorological Research Centre (SMRC) records the sea levels rising along the coast of Bangladesh.

An SMRC study pointed out that the sea level at Hiron Point in the Sundarbans, at the island of Char Chhenga and at Cox's Bazaar are registering significantly increased tidal highs.

SMRC's senior research officer Mizanur Rahman told bdnews24.com that with higher seas, coastal erosion was also increasing.

Dr Md Jafar, of Chittagong University's marine science institute, told bdnews24.com, "Tides highs are rising and the erosion is exacerbated with the advent of monsoon."

"It's not only Kutubdia, but Hatia, Bhola and St Martin's island are also threatened by erosion, with the south-eastern coast experiencing the worst effects," he said.